Babadokku
by JeffC FTW
Summary: Terror and tragedy strikes all in one, the past living in the present. Something sinister is in play when young Sarada finds a chilling children's storybook in her and Uncle Itachi's home.
1. The Storybook

**"The Babadook" is one of the best psychological horror movies of this decade, and I never thought it would inspire me to do something for Sarada and Uncle Itachi. The film deals with grief, coping with that grief, and battling personal as well as real demons involving a mother and her young son when the father died the night the mother was going into labor. Now this time, after losing both her parents on the day she was born, Sarada is being raised by Itachi...and one night a creepy children's book appears in her room. For those who have seen the movie, you know where this goes. And for those who haven't, I recommend it. (shivers) It's the kind of film you DO NOT want to watch alone at night with the lights off...**

 **Thanks to a reliable translation site, the title of this fic is the Japanese name of the anagram for "bad book". I don't know if the latter is true, but it does have a nice ring. XD**

 **I own nothing, not the characters or even "The Babadook" crossed with our favorite anime/manga.**

Chapter One

The Storybook

 _Flashes of white._

 _Screams._

 _Shattering glass between intervals of time._

 _"_ Sasuke!"

 _"SAKURA!"_

He would awake then and there, with the cold sweat. The alarm had just struck seven, making him sigh sharply. With an annoyed grunt, he reached over and slammed the button to snooze the alarm. He then sat up and stretched his bones, popping them and sighing with relief. Once he had his coffee, he would feel better. Albeit temporarily. He had a long day ahead of him.

 _Unless SHE doesn't give cause to another incident._

Itachi Uchiha opened the curtains of his bedroom in the small house within the old Uchiha district of Konoha. Time-honored, shrine-like structures remained even in these modern times. His family was one of the oldest few to remain and keep some of the old up to date and intact for eternity, as to not let the way of life go to waste. But alas, only he and a handful few Uchiha remained after the plague which nearly wiped them out over a decade ago.

His parents were taken then. Uncle and Auntie especially. But he, Shisui and his little brother Sasuke had been left - and now two were here.

And one more addition.

"Itachi- _oji!_ "

He whirled around then and there, frowning at the small girl standing in the doorway of his bedroom. Black hair cropped just below her ears, matching eyes behind a pair of broad spectacles rimmed with red, schoolbag slung around one shoulder and dressed in a creamy sweater and dark jeans. Just behind her was Kyuui, their little black Bombay whom Sarada rescued off the streets last year. The feline meowed and rushed over to leap onto the bed, tail swishing out as he licked at one of his hind legs.

"Sara-chan, will you ever learn to knock first?" Itachi chided as he walked over in her direction. "And could you at least learn to humor me by waiting _patiently?_ "

Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout, very much like her father, his younger brother, used to do when he'd poke his head and say "maybe next time". But now was another matter.

"I'm sorry, Uncle."

Itachi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, tugging the back of his ponytail in the process. "No, _I_ am sorry." He had never been a morning person even though he should be used to it by now. He had taken up the responsibility of the three roles in one ever since her parents had been killed the night she was born. Sasuke had been driving; it had all happened on the way to the hospital when Sakura's water broke in the middle of the night. His brother then called him to meet them - but then a terrible accident happened that he had been so close when he found the car on the side of the road and rushed them both. Sakura was barely conscious, though Sasuke had broken his neck in the hit. His younger brother was gone in a few moments, but he'd prayed there should have been time to save him.

An emergency C-section was performed that night. A beautiful, healthy baby girl was born, but her mother was on life support for a year; by then, there had been no signs of improvement. No one was left to make the decision to sign the papers and pull the plug...except him.

He was never in the car with them, but the dreams that came from the horror of losing them both and gaining custody of their newborn daughter - it was as if he _had_ been there and felt responsible for their deaths even though he wasn't.

After showering, dressing and getting his coffee - she'd eaten breakfast she'd made herself before she showed up at his room - he drove her to school. Another day, the same routine. After work and he picked her up, he was taking her to the grocery store. She was going to enjoy a good seafood feast because she deserved it. It had been a while since Itachi enjoyed a real meal himself. He looked behind him to the girl watching him intently as she had been gazing out the window much of the time. Their conversations were sparse at finest. The previous night, she'd awoken him late, claiming to have heard the _monster_ again, resorting to a check under the bed and in the closet. Nothing.

Children had the phase of "seeing monsters", but not the way his seven-year-old niece did. It was like she, on the night of her tragic birth, developed an abnormal sensory. Sometimes, he considered talking to a psychiatrist for advice without admitting her to weekly therapy sessions at her age.

 _Sarada doesn't need professional help. She always talks to me._

The little girl came around to the front, the window rolled down, and she pecked him a kiss on the cheek. _"Aishimasu,_ _oji-san_ ," she said sweetly, but those eyes betrayed mischief. Chuckling, Itachi watched her go and placed his palm to where the lingering, innocent warmth burned his skin.

" _Aishimasu."_

~o~

 _There was no sense burying his brother and sister-in-law in the cold ground to be forgotten over time. He thought it best if he had them in possession of his own since Sakura's parents died a couple years ago, and his and Sasuke's long before that._ Otouto _had only been sixteen at the time._

 _Rain poured murderously outside the small church. The priest cited the incantation for the journey of the couple into the next life._

 _Some eyes were rimmed with red and wet with tears, others having finished shedding and were flushed over their faces. Others glanced over at the man in the front, staring only at the back of his head, and a few on either side of him. His handsome, tired face was impassive, the tear troughs beneath his eyes prominent. His lustrous, long raven hair was tied back below his neck. The white-lined black kimono wrapped comfortably around his body; in his arms, he cradled the newborn who was barely a week old._

 _He closed his eyes, drowning out the priest's words. "You're not to blame, little one," he said softly to the baby, who was all he had left of Sasuke and Sakura. The words repeated in his subconscious, but his clenching heart never softened._

~o~

Originally, Itachi Uchiha was a police officer in Konoha Division, but while it had been his honor to serve the town he loved, it also would have taken him away from his niece who needed him as he was the only family she had left. His pension had paid handsomely, in addition to what his parents left him and Sasuke - and now what Sasuke left would one day go to his daughter when she was of age.

Ever since leaving the force, he found a job as a history teacher at the local high school, history being one of his many other specialties. It wasn't as much as his old job had been, but it was well enough to cover him and his niece. Plus, the hours gave him enough time to drop Sarada off at her school and then come to get her when the day was over.

His students were half well-behaved and a good quarter portion being the worst possible, but the majority passed with flying colors. Uchiha-san was one of the best Konoha High offered, with his credentials and his family history. He was very strict, when he needed to be. To those who deserved it, he rewarded them.

Among who taught economics was Neji Hyuuga, the cousin of Hinata Uzumaki. _The wife of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke's best friend._ He considered the Hyuuga to be a valuable coworker and one of the few true friends Itachi had, besides Shisui and Kakashi Hatake who remained at the KPD. Naruto and his family were also the only ones the Uchiha could keep close since his brother's death, as _otouto,_ the blond and Sakura all grew up from the time they were toddlers.

It was this school they first met, the one Sarada and Naruto's son Boruto, who was a playmate and friend of hers, attended now - _irony in its own_ \- but it was also run currently by principal Tsunade Senju, a retired physician who was a legend and found another position to fill her time rather than just going out to gamble and get drunk on occasion. She had been Sakura's teacher in medical school.

But the worst of the down side was Koharu and Homura were still the counselors, even if they were at the age of retirement.

Which was why he had been told by Jiraiya, who taught English literature and was the author of an adult series of his own, had informed him from the principal's office that _Sarada's school_ was on the phone and wanted to speak to him, her legal guardian, immediately.

"What has happened now?" he demanded furiously, storming into their shared office, glowering with murderous intent upon the two old windbags. "Whatever my niece has done -"

"Be silent, Itachi," Homura stated. "The girl has punched a classmate in the face. According to her claim, the victim of her fist had called her 'four eyes' and 'Miss Goody Two Shoes' yet again. He is in the infirmary at the very moment, but she is with Tsunade-san at the very moment." Itachi's blood was boiling to optimum levels.

His niece was still being bullied, and these two were letting the perpetrators get away with it. He had been thinking about this for awhile now - "Well, I suppose that means I can say that I won't have the serious talk now with her," he said coldly, earning a snort from Koharu.

"Oh, we have had the talk with the girl, Itachi. But honestly, we cannot condone such behavior any longer. If your niece insists on breaking the rules and laying a hand on a fellow student, then we have no choice but to put her under twenty-four-hour surveillance as long as she is on grounds. We must keep her separated from the other children for their own protection."

 _For THEIR own protection - not hers!_

Itachi exploded then and there. His niece, his brother's daughter - his own flesh and blood - was being treated like an outcast because of these two old break winds' personal grudges against his family. He stood up with a vengeance and clenched his fists. "You will do no such thing. I intend to do what I should have done a long time ago; I will take her out of this school and put her in a new one." He smirked internally at the shock on the faces of those two.

"Itachi, you cannot just do this!" Koharu exclaimed. "You can't just take her out of school -"

"Oh, but I will," he hissed, leaning over the desk. "My niece, the only thing I have left of my younger brother, deserves to be treated as the human being she is." He turned his attention then to Homura who grunted about "the girl" under his breath. "Oh, and by the way, she has a name - Sa-ra- _da_. Sarada Uchiha. You will do well to quit calling her 'the girl' as if she's not even human."

~o~

"The old lady hates me," Sarada grumbled in the backseat as they were leaving the school. "She says I am just like my daddy..."

Itachi sighed behind the wheel. If there was one thing he loathed, it was being compared to someone in your family. But to think about her fighting back with her hand, and against the rules. "No, you don't deserve to be treated like that." For now, while he would begin the search and take some time to do it, he would keep her from knowing about his decision. But that still left... "But you never should have hit that boy the way you did," he said firmly, looking at her through the rearview mirror.

Unlike most children who threw temper tantrums, Sarada simply lifted her nose at him and peered at him over her glasses. "He called me Four-Eyes and said I was worse than my father. That's what they all say!"

"As much as I am inclined to agree with you, it pains me to tell you that you must endure no matter what. How many times do I need to instill this in you? An Uchiha never lets their emotions get the best of them." _Unfortunately, she did inherit that from both her parents - and her mother's fist._

"You hate me, too, Uncle."

He stifled the gasp that threatened to escape. No, he did not! "Where would you get an idea like that, Sara-chan?"

"Because it seems everyone does, just because of who my parents were," she said bitterly. "I'm great in school, but not around people." Itachi didn't know how to respond to that. For once, he couldn't think of what to say.

Instead, he settled on reaching around and giving her a gentle pat on the knee for assurance.

The rest of the day was without trouble. Given it was a long day and they were both tired, Itachi decided today they would spend the day at home and then enjoy some cartoons just for her. Kyuui was happy to see them when they came home. Sarada's face lit up at both the kitty and the marathons streaming by the time evening dropped. It made his heart leap with joy at seeing her happy. He brought in the groceries, telling her to go wash up so he got dinner ready. He bought enough for the promised feast, but he decided today would be a change of plans and stick to the TV dinners imported from the states.

Later, with Sarada in her purple-and-pink plaid pajamas, it was bedtime and a story first. For now, he had stuck to the kinds a child would understand, even though she was a progressively learning reader. "You can pick one tonight," Itachi told her as he slid into the bed, raising an eyebrow at the plain red cover she brought to him. He furrowed his brows at the strange but sharply defined black figure without a face, with a top hat and clawed hands straight down on either side of its body. The kanji title read **ミスターババドック**.

 _Mister Babadook - or Babadook-san._ "Sarada, where did you get this?" He did not remember ever seeing this. Could it have been hidden somewhere in the house without anyone knowing?

"It was on the shelf," she answered. Itachi continued to frown, trying to wrack his brain before giving up altogether and deciding to humor her. He opened the book and began to read the first page aloud.

 _"If it's in a word or it's in a look, you can't get rid of the Babadook."_

He began to assume this "Babadook" - or _babadokku_ \- was an entity that no one ever heard of, or a fictional one at that, which resided in the house. It didn't say who wrote this strange children's tale, nor was there a reason, but his interest was piqued enough that he turned the next page to show the mysterious top-hatted character poking "his" head out from a wardrobe closet, now sporting an eye. _"If you're a really clever one, and you know what it is to see, then you can make friends with a special one - a friend of you and me."_ At the bottom of the page was a black-painted piece of paper which he discovered was hooked to the hand of the character, pulling it out for a wave which made Sarada giggle. Itachi chuckled with her before turning to the next.

 _"His name is Mister Babadook, and this is his book."_

Kyuui meowed and thumped his tail on the foot of the bed as he listened. This was a little girl looking at the closed wardrobe doors as - _"A rumbling sound, then three sharp knocks - ba BA-ba DOOK! DOOK! DOOK! That's when you'll know that he's around. You'll see him when you look."_ And so the doors of the closet were given to open, which Sarada read aloud in repetition.

"Ba, BA-ba...dook. Dook. Dook," she said, scrunching her nose.

 _Why do I have a strange feeling about this?_ "Sara-chan," he said, closing the book but keeping his finger in the current place, "we might read another tonight, hn?"

She looked up at him with furrowed brows. " _Oji-san_ , you said I could choose," she reminded him. Sighing, he reopened the thing again - but what he found on the next page made him think that perhaps he should have taken a glimpse at this damned thing first before he opened it.

 _"This is what he wears on top."_ Top hat in place...now he saw white chalk sculpting piercing eyes and jagged teeth. _A monster. "He's funny, don't you think?"_

Here now, with the child in bed and looking above with an expression of unbridled fear at the creature overhead, the pop-up bubble quote reading **Let Me In!** \- **入らせて！** **-** as _"see him in your room at night, and you won't sleep a wink."_

"Uncle Itachi," Sarada whimpered, shrinking into him, "does it hurt the girl?"

It was obvious she was no longer paying attention as he continued to flip through the pages and gritted his teeth at the last of it before he came across this, which would make another young child and lesser person break out into the coldest sweat:

 _"I'll soon take off my funny disguise." (take heed of what you read)_

Sarada's questions began to get crazed, from asking if it lived under the bed or in the closet, but he couldn't answer, only focused his attention on the ravenous thing of nightmares as it showed its nightmarish teeth and soulless eyes to the victim beneath. _And once you've seen what's underneath..._

 _...you're going to wish you were DEAD._

Furious, Itachi slammed the monstrous excuse of a children's storybook and threw it angrily across the room where it hit the wall and cluttered to the floorboards. The cat meowed and leaped to all fours, looking in that direction before hissing and arching its back as if the object were the real monster within those pages.

His niece was now in his lap, crying and curling into him. He decided to pick something else from her books, but it only did so much to calm her down.

That night, he allowed her to sleep with him, the cat curled in between them, but Itachi struggled to sleep as his thoughts were plagued by the book which remained across the room and on the floor. He thought about getting rid of it - but the question was HOW.

 **Did anyone have shivers, too, or just me? :S At least for those of you who haven't seen the movie, be warned when you go to Netflix or find it elsewhere.**

 **Review please. (wipes sweating forehead with tissue)**


	2. The Promise

**Since "The Babadook" deals with grief and depression, let's say I am going through something akin lately and don't know how long it'll last. Rest assured, no abandonment to this on my watch.**

Chapter Two

The Promise

Even tonight, Itachi spent it looking over this damnable thing which had affected Sarada more than he realized. Of course, when Sasuke was that age, he'd gone through a similar experience that he allowed _otouto_ to crawl into bed with him at night when their parents decided he was too old to do this. Big brother should always be there for the younger.

 _As an uncle should be for his niece when she is deprived of both her parents the night she was born._

Kyuui was with Sarada at the moment, maybe keeping her company while she tried to sleep - for however long that would last. In the meantime:

 _"If it's in a word or it's in a look,"_ he murmured aloud, _"you can't get rid of the Babadook." Blazes, whoever wrote this has done a fine job capturing children's worst fears._ When he turned to the page which had the fiend gleefully over the innocent child in her bed, he gritted his teeth at the compromising position and how it could affect one who was traumatized in THAT way...

 _ **LET ME IN!**_ \- the text read, which the monster demanded. It seemed it wanted to get inside the victim's body for possession somehow - if interpreted to mean "I want your body" in another way. He cringed; why was he thinking about this? _It is what I get for being in the force, dealing with rapists and child molesters even._ Turning to the page showing the "removal of the funny disguise" as the warning to heed, he decided that it was nothing more than an insipid book.

 _"And once you see what's underneath...you're going to wish you were DEAD."_

The rest of the book's pages were nothing but blanks, which he dismissed as a waste of space and trees. No author - which meant whoever made this certainly didn't want their name in the mud for giving innocent children nightmares for the longest time. Sliding off the bed, Itachi walked over to his wardrobe and placed it on the very top, pushing it as far back so Sarada wouldn't find it...and where in time, it would be forgotten.

Hopefully.

Tomorrow was Saturday, so he intended to take his niece over to the Uzumakis as she begged him. He looked at the time and exhaled when he saw it was half past nine, and half an hour ago, he'd put the girl down to bed. Going back over to his nightside table, he reached for the top drawer and pulled it open to show the black bottle which he shook to find it half empty. He needed to get another next time when he got paid again. The bronze love symbols would be a giveaway to the more experienced eye. He'd used this for years thanks to Shisui's yapping mouth and the advice from other coworkers. The gel prolonged the desirable sensations of stamina and performance both solo and during the act with your partner.

Exhaling sharply, Itachi slipped beneath the covers, not before he pushed his sleeping pants down to around his ankles so to avoid going to sleep with dried fluids on his clothes. He took one look at the closed door, wishing Sarada wouldn't come in unannounced like she was prone to. When he had the desired amount of gel in his palm, shivering at the tingles in his nerves, he reached to turn off the light before lying back comfortably, and wasted no time going down to the place which hadn't been used with another for months - or _years._

Itachi gasped at the cold that brought his manhood to life, slowly building the blood there until it was swollen and hard.

For a few minutes, he pinched the head and then down to every angle of his length until he was satisfied to continue. Moaning at the stirring of his loins, he rolled over onto the other side of his bed and laid down on his stomach, parting his legs to allow more room and increased friction. Grunting, Itachi squeezed the tight, hot flesh and whimpered, his hips rotating with each tug of his intimate flesh by his own hand. Stray strands of his pubic hair were tugged on; others tickled the inside of his wrist, causing the blood vessels there to jolt.

Across the opposite bedside and on the table beneath the window was none other than the small memorial he created for his late brother and sister-in-law. Two vases of gold etched with silver kanji for their names, beneath their dates of birth to death, surrounded by bright orange roses, dark-colored orchids and rich green ferns. In between the urns was their wedding photograph taken at the family shrine, and both in traditional kimonos: the groom in black, the bride in plain white and a necklace with rows of pearls and a burst of crystals. They were truly happy...and even more with the bride holding her five months' growth with both hands and her new husband placing his own on top. Sakura had gotten pregnant in midst of planning the wedding, something his parents would have disapproved of if they were here - well, Fugaku especially.

Itachi closed his eyes and gasped sharply as he felt his coil unravel, reaching the end of the peak of pleasure...

...and at the same time his seed spilled into the sheets beneath his body, the door was knocked on rapidly and thunderously.

Exclaiming in shock and outrage, Itachi bolted upright, ignoring the sticky wetness beneath his body and glaring at the door, knowing who was behind it. "SARADA!"

She flew right in, wide-eyed and with her glasses crooked; she adjusted them, which gave him time to pull his pants back over his hips. "It's in my room!" she cried.

"What is?" He was so tired from the high of his orgasm that he wasn't in the mood for this...

"The Babadook!"

Itachi exhaled and laid back on his side, refusing to let his young niece anywhere near his bodily fluids which were beginning to dry soon. "Oh, no, no, this isn't going to happen tonight, Sara-chan," he said sharply just as she was climbing into the other side.

"But the doors were closed, Uncle, and now they are wide open," she insisted, putting her glasses on the table where her parents' urns were.

 _That book...when I burn it or throw it into the dumpster, she'll learn to forget in time._ "Niece, it is only a book," he told her, turning around to face her, tenderly pushing the hair out of her eyes. "It can't hurt you. You just had a big day today..." Yes, that was all it was: a long, hard day, and it would get better soon, he swore as he gazed into those wide onyx eyes she inherited from his and her father's side of the family. Uchiha genes were always dominated by dark.

Sarada gave a little smile as if taking his words to heart, before moving over to him just as he turned to lie on his back and gaze up at the ceiling. She rested her head across his bare, chiseled chest, her small ear against his steady heartbeat. His flesh and blood became soft as goo as this shred of innocence left behind from seven years of loss and love held onto him as she made her promise.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to you, Ita- _oji_. Just like you protected me, I'm going to protect you."

As uncle and niece fell asleep in each other's arms, the rest of the house was shrouded in darkness, in the shadows lurking a rumbling entity that was watching from every corner.

~o~

Itachi thought that he heard the rumbling again, but it was over in moments, during the night. By morning, he dismissed it. When Saturday came, it was nine AM as Sarada pointed it out. With a light chuckle and a tired yawn, he sat up and stretched, noting that she was in a rare little dress, which was light blue, short-sleeved and reaching her knees. But there was one thing missing.

Auntie Hinata had gotten her a scarf to match - which might have been picked out with her husband Naruto's help - and it was the same shade of light blue with darker tones and splashes of bright orange. She smiled brightly at him...before it was gone in a second. He sighed, knowing what she was thinking about. She'd come to him last night in fear of the Babadook, but he brushed it off with a tap to her forehead.

"Promise me this, Sara-chan: no more talk of the Babadook to Uncle Naruto and Auntie Hinata, or even to Boruto and Himawari. Deal?"

He half-expected her to pout, but she only nodded without a word.

He chose to drop her off at the Uzumakis', because he needed a day alone as it had been forever. Plus, it was Shisui and Kakashi's day off, so he phoned them after leaving his niece with her playmates, and now found himself meeting with Hinata at the front door. Her long ebony hair was held back by a ponytail reaching the end of her back; now that she was a mother and housewife, she consistently continued to wear anything along the lines of her current dark jeans and light blue t-shirt. She gave a tender smile and stepped aside for him to come in, but he shook his head.

"I was...considering leaving her here for the day."

"A-are you sure?"

He nodded, taking a deep breath. "I don't remember the last time that I had..." He paused there, hoping his niece didn't hear him, which the Uzumaki matriarch seemed to get. She bobbed her head once in understanding. "How is he?" He was referring to Naruto.

Hinata looked down at the floor mat and bit her bottom lip. "Naruto-kun...he has been off work since last week," she answered, eyes glazing as if threatening to spill tears. Ever since his two best friends had died, Naruto lapsed into a shell of who he was, that even after his two children were born - Boruto now seven like Sarada, and Himawari only two years old - life didn't get any better for him. His son seemed to be the one to throw tantrums that his father wasn't giving him and his sister the attention they deserved, and Hinata had for the longest time tried to get her husband into therapy for their family's sake. But mostly for his.

Itachi worried a little then for his niece since Naruto had little to no improvement despite being functional enough to give his family deserved attention.

But Hinata's reassuring smile told him otherwise. This was nothing she couldn't handle. "Go and enjoy your deserved time, Itachi-kun," she said tenderly, cupping his cheek with her palm.

~o~

"Itachi!"

He had been at the bar of the grill when he heard his name being called. Turning around, there was none other than Shisui and the silver-haired one himself. He gave a slight smile after downing his second cup of sake which earned a raised eyebrow from his cousin. "What, are you starting without us?" he exclaimed, slapping Itachi on the back. "We hardly ever see you out here anymore, and you go on ahead?!"

Itachi only shrugged and turned back to his set. "I hardly have time for myself anymore," was all he could say. _With a niece who always needs me._

"You're right, and we've been telling you all along," Kakashi Hatake told him as he slipped beside him. "You should start letting Naruto and Hinata babysit for you more often. Everyone at the force misses you."

"Please, don't make me feel guilty, Kakashi." The day he announced he was leaving the police force, everyone pitched in to throw him what resembled a birthday party, and he had been on the verge of saying they were all too grown up for something like this, but they'd gone through the trouble just for him. "I have no regrets, but what was done is done. I am all Sarada has left." This earned groans from both men.

Shisui whistled for the bar wench to bring several shots for them. "Itachi, I haven't even seen the kid since summer break for her and the other children. You got to let me come by there sometime," he offered with a wink.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, knowing full well what his cousin could be planning and wouldn't allow it. Seeing this, Shisui sighed sharply, crestfallen. "Cousin, you let Sasuke and Sakura's deaths get to you. I miss them, too, but they wouldn't have wanted you to go on like this. You need to get life back on, start being happy again. You gave everything up for Sarada, and I don't think she likes you this way."

"He's right, you know," Kakashi stated, leaning in from the younger Uchiha's left side, the sudden burst of heat radiating from his side and making him shiver. "Those two were my life as the both of you are to me." His arm slinked around Itachi's shoulder, increasing the heat between them to the point of making the Uchiha uncomfortable. He'd known Hatake since college, and they both went into the force with Shisui. Both prodigies of their families, both lost their parents - but Kakashi enjoyed his alone time while Itachi, shamefully, admitted he was tired of it. But he endured it for the sake of his late brother's daughter.

Now the silver-haired man's words repeated in his mind: _he's right, you know. You're over thirty and on the verge of becoming a single old man. When was the last time you -?_

He stopped his train of thought there, feeling his cheeks burn as Shisui laughed, downing his liquor well. But Itachi's tolerance was much higher, though lightheadedness could always catch you off-guard like your worst enemy.

What made his flesh heat and his blood boil beneath was the fact that perhaps Kakashi was still leaning in on him the entire time the three of them bonded like the good old days.

~o~

 _I should take it._

The thought continued to repeat in his mind even after he left that afternoon, before the day ended, and he went to pick up Sarada. He, Shisui and Kakashi had a lot to drink, but he had to remain sober enough to retrieve his niece and not get them in an accident. When he had gone back to the Uzumaki place, he was shocked and not so to be greeted with the sight of Naruto beside his wife as he was just saying good bye to Sarada before letting her run towards her uncle.

"Hello, Naruto," he said with a slight smile that the once bubbly, hyperactive blond - who was the polar opposite of his late brother - returned halfway.

"Itachi," the other replied. "She's a great kid." Then his face fell. "But what is this about the 'Baba'- er, what is it again?" Itachi felt his blood grow cold. _Damn it, Sarada, I explicitly told you NOT to talk about it!_

He shook his head. "It was a book we found in the house, but I do not remember how it was ever there. She had a nightmare from it and is convinced it's real," he said nonchalantly, making Naruto wince. Hinata, troubled enough, left the two men alone to go back where the Uchiha could have sworn he heard Boruto whimpering, but Himawari was too young to understand these things, so she wasn't affected in the slightest. He sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck. "Naruto, I really had the serious talk with her to not bring this up."

The blond shrugged. "I'm sure it's her way of coping, Itachi. You know, with her parents..." He looked above to the sky. "I heard her tell my boy that she intended to trap it and kill it, make the vow to Sasuke and Sakura that she would...protect you."

 _Protect...protect me..._

He said nothing to that, only nodded and walked over to the car to take himself and his niece home. But as soon as they were on the street, he chose to break the silence. "Sarada, I specifically told you not to -"

"But the Babadook is waiting for his time to strike," she interrupted, arms across her chest. "Boruto was helping me think of the traps to catch it. And I looked at the picture of Mom and Dad when I told them I would keep you safe, Uncle." _This monster madness is going too far. I don't know what to do anymore._

 _I'm worried she will take it to school and it gets back to those two old windbags._

"The Babadook isn't real," Itachi said through his teeth, hands tightening around the steering wheel. "If he were, he'd be with us right now." Anything to get his niece to quiet down, but she was stubborn as ever, like both her parents.

"No," Sarada said indignantly, baring her teeth. "He will scare you first and then take you when you are at your weakest point. Just like all monsters do...only this time, he is nothing like any other."

~o~

The cat meowed and jumped down from its resting place in one of the chairs at the small kitchen table. Itachi saw it from the corner of his eye and frowned slightly. At least the feline was better than his niece at the moment - even if the little creature was a reminder SHE had rescued it from the streets.

Something darker was slowly rising from the depths of Itachi's consciousness.

One that he feared he no longer had control over.

He decided to make him and Sarada a simple meal of sweet miso soup chopped in with fresh baby turnips. It was something reserved as first course, but he was too tired from today. From lack of excitement and danger upon leaving the force, he craved for something he used to have before he was burdened with caring for the one thing left of Sasuke.

He stopped in midst of stirring the pot. His heart clenched. _Why did I think of her like that? She's only a child. She didn't cause the people who made her to die that night. I love her..._

But he'd given up so much for her, and what did he get in return?

He was interrupted out of his thoughts when he heard the sounds of... _firecrackers?!_

Something was going POP! POP! POP! downstairs in the basement. _SARADA!_ On impulse, he made a mad dash to the door right beneath the staircase, to where it was opened, and heard himself gasp in horror at the sight of his niece throwing firecrackers on the floor - and surrounded by various photographs of him and her parents.

His temper thread snapped with a vengeance.

"SARADA UCHIHA!" he roared, dashing down and not stopping until he was in front of her, taking the remainders from her little hands. "What do you think you are doing?! And where did you get these?" His eyes flashed wildly, reflecting off her spectacles. "Were they from Boruto? Because I do not remember getting these for you!"

"Yes, he gave them," she answered in a timid voice, eyes wide as they looked up at him.

Itachi sighed, standing up, but when he looked past her and at one specific picture taken of him surrounded by his brother, Sakura and Naruto when the three of them were all entering high school years, he felt himself crumble and fall to his knees. He bowed his head and clawed at nothing in particular at the floor. "Sarada," he croaked, "do you think it's funny to play around with...magic and monsters in front of your parent's memories like this?" _If this is what she is doing, then she has got to stop..._

"No!" she cried, diving down to his side. "They asked me to protect you, Uncle Itachi! Please believe me! I'm practicing so I can catch the Babadook!"

 **REVIEW PLEASE. :D And let's wish Sasuke a happy birthday today.**


	3. The Sickness

Chapter Three

The Sickness

Sarada was at the table with him now, having not said another word because he threatened to take her makeshift weapons into the dumpster if she pulled off what she did in the basement again, and that was when the doorbell was rung. Itachi frowned, having not expected any company. But who had appeared outside the entrance surprised him.

"Kakashi."

"I thought I'd stop by," the man replied casually, leaning off to the side with his favorite orange book in front of him. "I could have called, but I think the kid might be happy to see me."

 _You couldn't have come at the wrong timing._ But instead, he nodded and stepped aside, giving a small smile at the box that showed the gift Kakashi had gotten - and recognized it as the wooden form of a samurai sword. If it had been a real one, he would have refused off the bat. "Really, Kakashi, you shouldn't have..." _And on a day like today. I should say yes to make her happy, but what she pulled off today..._ Sometimes, he knew he spoiled her too much for her own good.

"It's what my father gave me when I was her age," the silver-haired man said as he stepped in, then his eyes widened when he looked beyond the Uchiha. "Ah, there she is! Sara-chan, you've grown since I last saw you!"

She squealed and ran towards him, throwing her arms around his waist. "Kaka-san!" she said happily, the change in her earlier attitude a relief for her uncle who wished it would stay that way. "What are you doing here?"

He laughed and patted the back of her head. "Your uncle invited me to dinner," he answered, even though it was far from the truth, and she saw right through it, narrowing her eyes.

"Itachi- _oji_ would have said he did."

"You're right," Kakashi answered with a chuckle. "I came because I missed you both. In fact, your uncle and I had a couple drinks with Uncle Shisui today." Her eyes shone brighter at the mention of her other uncle. "But would you like it if I stayed, Sarada?"

She just couldn't refuse an invitation like that, just as she couldn't refuse the present from him. Itachi felt the weight being lifted off his shoulders, but it wouldn't last, and he knew it. _Maybe while Kakashi is here, I can get her to quiet down about this Babadook._

How wrong he would be again.

"Itachi, you've really become a housewife," his friend commented when the three of them were at the table, downing several spoons of the turnips and bits of miso paste together. "I should just move in so I can live with this alone!" _You mean so I can agree to your "offer" you gave today._ He hoped that his niece wouldn't catch on to that; she was too perceptive for her own good. Thank the Kami she didn't understand adult matters...yet.

Sarada finished her latest spoonful and pointed it at him as if using a sword. "Kaka-san, Uncle is the best ever! You really want to live here?" Itachi looked at her with a warning, which didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi.

"I don't think your _oji-san_ would agree, right, Itachi?"

"I'll think about it," he muttered, thinking how he could use some extra help with his niece - then choked and cried out in a muffle at the little jab of pain in his mouth. Something hard and sharp was in the soup. Taking great care, Itachi reached into his mouth...and pulled out a piece of _glass._ Covered in blood - HIS blood. He could still feel a couple places within the wet, sensitive cavern of his mouth throbbing. Kakashi's eyes widened, and Sarada looked at him with a dropped jaw.

The silver-haired man hastily began to dig through his bowl to see if he had any, and the answer was yes when he saw four, five pieces in the silverware. "My God, how did this get in?!" he exclaimed. _That's what I want to know._ And all eyes turned on Sarada when she held up her portion of the glass.

Just where the hell did this glass COME from?! And more importantly... "Sarada," Itachi gritted out, "what did you do?"

Kakashi looked at him, stunned. "Itachi, you're not accusing your own niece of trying to kill us all, are you?" The two of them had tackled child murder crimes and even young children - few they were - being guilty of such monstrous deeds to their families or on themselves, in the past, but to know that the girl in front of them who was near and precious to them -!

She shook her head frantically. "No, I didn't do this! It was the -!" Oh, not again. He reached over and grasped her free hand, silently warning her to not say that word. But Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"The what?"

"Nothing," Itachi grumbled, feeling the tang of his own blood increase.

But Sarada answered despite the increased pressure on her wrist as she looked at Hatake desperately. "The Babadook."

A pause before a bout of laughter exploded, making Itachi's face burn with humiliation and anger. "B-Baba-dook?" Kakashi repeated. "That's a good one. What is it, Sara-chan? An imaginary friend of yours?" Itachi snorted, standing and picking up the bowls from all of them. It seemed he was going to have to make something else, and this time, he would not leave it unattended since he was positive that Sarada put it in as a prank...a prank that went too far. Something at the back of his mind warned him that her imagination was getting too dangerous to the point where it could literally kill them all...

Sarada's words were a buzz he tuned as he was on autopilot, gathering out the leftover ingredients to remake the soup.

~o~

"All of this from a storybook," Kakashi finished, shaking his head and putting his finger to his temple when the Uchiha finished telling him everything. The both of them were at the table when the meal was over, and Sarada was with the cat in the living room watching cable. Itachi nodded, leaning his head back and wishing he could reverse time and change it all. The silver-haired man shook his head. "I'd like to see this thing."

Itachi exhaled sharply. "Very well, wait here." He then stood and made way past the living room for the staircase. _Just this once._ He wasted no time retrieving this accursed book and tucked it under his arm, making sure Sarada didn't see it as he brought it to place in front of his friend.

Kakashi's frown was deep the entire time he looked through the pages, increasing with each page he perused. "Kami, what kind of sick mind would write this thing?" he muttered, closing it when he was finished. "Why didn't you throw this thing away - or better yet, burn it?"

"I don't know." Itachi turned to look off to the side. "I keep wishing to, but something prevents me."

"Something," Kakashi repeated, snorting. "Itachi, whoever wrote this must have left it behind for a reason. I could take it with me and have it analyzed at the station, but with no serious trouble, I don't know what I can do for you and Sarada." He looked up at Itachi with a guilty glint. What had he expected? There was nothing going on in this house, and what Sarada was going through was a mere phase, right...?

 _No, what Sarada is doing is beyond normal. I've seen many things as a police officer, but this is nothing I've handled._

Kakashi was still looking through the pages of the book and then closed it to look at the cover, the creases between his eyes showing once more. "I really have a bad feeling about this thing..." He was interrupted when they both heard the same thing: a crash upstairs, followed by a scream.

Itachi's heart leaped as his body burst forward. _Sarada!_ Kakashi followed him, and both men didn't stop until they reached the top of the stairs. At some point during their conversation, the girl had gone back upstairs for whatever reason - and seeing her homemade crossbow on the floor of her room gave him the answer. As well, her wardrobe doors were opened. And the sound of shaking breathing told them where she was.

"Sarada!" He gently pulled her quivering form out from under the bed, but she didn't seem to be there. Her glasses fell off her face and onto the floor, not shattering or even cracking. He laid her across the bed, but her wide, wild black gaze was focused on the ceiling, and her cries were incoherent...but he finally made out what she said.

"Don't let it in! _Don't let it in_ \- DON'T LET IT IN!"

Itachi turned around to Kakashi, spotting the storybook in his hand. _That thing...that thing that started all of this..._ Something inside him snapped as he left his convulsing niece on her bed, snatching the monstrous excuse from his friend's hand. "Hey, what are you going to do with it?" Kakashi yelled after him.

"What I should have done when I first opened it!" Itachi returned, not bothering to pause and look over his shoulder. _What I should have done a long time ago, indeed!_

In not even half an hour, he had the damned thing as he should have had it in the beginning: the pages torn out, placed back in the cover, and thrown into the trash, ready to be picked up the coming Tuesday morning.

Above, the moon was just beginning to peek over the treetops.

~o~

Kakashi stayed with them for the night, which he appreciated. Sarada did calm down, tired to the bone from the attack, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her. At first, Itachi didn't feel right, leaving her to sleep alone in her room like this, so he prayed all would be well. Kakashi crashed on the couch, even though there was a guest room.

But by Sunday morning, things quickly escalated.

It was barely nine when he was awoken by his door being slammed open, and Kakashi rushed in with Sarada in his arms, still convulsing and eyes rolling into her head. Panic exploding from his cerebrum, Itachi hurriedly dressed up and rushed with Kakashi into the latter's car to take the child to the emergency room at once.

Shizune was there, and when she caught sight of him, Kakashi and the little girl, her eyes widened with sheer horror before slipping into professional stance and ushered them into her examination room. By then, Sarada had calmed down after being given a mild sedative, but the real exam was just beginning.

Her pulse was taken, followed by her pupils and eventually her heartbeat, all of which Shizune spoke to him, the legal guardian, about in private while Kakashi remained with the sleeping girl for the duration. "Well, I can think for now that it is a...febrile convulsion," she said grimly. "When the brain overheats."

 _High body temperature, but nothing serious?_ Itachi shook his head, allowing a tear to fall from the corner of each eye. "She's never had _this_ before," he said softly, hating himself for crumbling like this. These "fever fits" often ran in families, but not in the history of the Uchiha. The fit had lasted five minutes, and in under an hour, the victim - generally a young child under Sarada's age - was back to normal, though that didn't reassure him. "Before today, she's..." He couldn't bring himself to finish speaking, and Shizune wasn't done with her opinion, either.

"We just have to wait until the tests come back, Itachi-san," she said sympathetically, reaching over to pat his shoulder. "Her other results are normal. She could only be suffering a high level of anxiety, very committed to the monster theory." Now her eyes hardened a little, pursing her lips.

"An understatement," he said with a snort, wiping his tears away with the tissue he plucked from the box on the edge of the table.

Shizune's gaze softened. "All children see monsters," she said softly, but he shook his head. _If only you understood what I have seen._

"Not like this, Shizune..."

She turned away from him for the moment to type something into her computer. "Has she become...aggressive with this monster issue?" she asked curiously.

Itachi nodded. "Yes. She hasn't done anything to intentionally harm, but...I fear for my niece. I want to get her the help she deserves, without breaking her trust in me..."

"I can refer her to see a psychiatrist." Was it his imagination, or was luck on his side? He feared that this would only cause her to spiral downward further than she already was, but now he could see a faint ray of light down this dark tunnel.

"Please, that would be excellent." He cleared his throat. "But, ahem...is there a way you can give her something to...sleep for now? Until we can get her an appointment?" Shizune raised a delicate eyebrow. "We haven't slept well for some weeks now, even before this weekend, and when we return home, the nightmare begins again, and...I'm really not coping." _I have never coped since my brother and his wife died that night, even long before all of this. If only some form of medication could temporarily alleviate this dark cloud day and night...just until..._

A pause before Shizune agreed. "I can give you a short course of sedatives until the tests come back. Most...parents aren't too keen on them unless it's really bad."

Bad did not do it justice.

~o~

The sedatives, Shizune told him, were said to cause side effects like nausea and fogginess, temporarily before setting in, or even upon awakening from slumber. Nevertheless, Itachi was relieved that something was better than nothing at all.

"Well, that went well," Kakashi told him when they were on their way back to the house. Itachi nodded wordlessly, looking down at the prescription given for Sarada who was currently dozing in and out in the backseat. This was for one week; hopefully, they would get her an appointment after that. Anything to help her get over this "Babadook" coping mechanism which was not even close to helping HIM in return.

"Sara-chan," he said at last, getting her tired attention. He held up the paper before her eyes even though she could only read the best if not the Latin terms for the medication. "When we get this for you, you must take this medicine, have a big sleep, and not worry." She stared blankly but nodded once, telling him she heard every word. He nodded back with a hum of satisfaction.

There was comfortable silence before Kakashi reached to turn on the radio for some good music until he was stopped by Sarada's surprising statement which wasn't at all for her uncle. "Uncle Itachi, Kakashi...I don't want either of you to die." She didn't cry again, but it was still there if pushed back at will.

Kakashi looked at her from the rearview mirror, chuckling behind the mask that covered the bottom half of his face. "Oh, don't you worry about us. We're not going for a long time."

Her tender gaze suddenly hardened along with her voice.

"Did you both think that way about Mom and Dad before they died?"

~o~

 _"I'm sorry about your brother, Uchiha-san."_

 _He barely registered a word the woman was saying. All he could think about were the nightmarish words in which he was informed it was too late for Sasuke, for his neck broke even long before his body could be brought here. Now Sasuke was downstairs in the morgue, on a cold, steel table, naked and covered with a sheet. White as a ghost with veins showing stark and dark against his translucent complexion. And his wife was in surgery but now placed on life support in the ICU until further notice. The placenta had been detached, causing internal bleeding, that the baby's life became top priority._

 _The child was currently with the other newborns, being well looked after. He knew he should go and see her - Sakura had given birth to a daughter while unconscious. She would never get to see her child's face, if she were to wake up. He'd lost Sasuke, and he didn't want to lose her, too..._

 _More importantly, he didn't want their daughter, yet to be named, to lose BOTH parents._

 _It wasn't supposed to be like this. The little girl wasn't supposed to be born only for her parents to leave her alone before she got to know them. Itachi should have been there, but damn it all! He should have been there on time, but it wasn't his fault. The accident was still being investigated, but the car may have broken down on its own by fate's sadistic hand..._

 _He automatically raised his head when he heard another pair of footsteps coming his way. Tsunade, the woman who had mentored Sakura and would have recommended her for the next hospital administrator, was coming his way, still in surgeon gear - and held a soft pink bundle in her arms. The infant was cooing and grunting, her little fist against her chest. The well-endowed woman gingerly helped him adjust the way he held his newborn niece, so her little head rested against his chest. She looked up at him, blinking a few times, before a small, toothless smile split her tiny, round face. Her head was covered with a few strands of dark hair._

 _At the same time a tear fell down his face, Itachi's heart cracked and melted. The look she gave him told him she was counting on him. If her mother didn't make it, he was all she had left. Shuddering, he leaned down to rest his cheek on top of her head, inhaling the fresh smell of her, before placing a tender kiss on her forehead. Sasuke and Sakura never decided on a name yet, and even if they did, they hadn't told him yet, or even to Shisui and their friends._

 _Itachi knew one perfect name in mind for this precious little girl who changed his life._

 _"I promise to protect you from now on...Sarada."_

~o~

He planned for tomorrow to be a day off, so he called in sick and then Sarada's school, so he could spend the day with her additionally. Kakashi spent Sunday with them, but he had to return, and Itachi couldn't keep him. He thanked his friend for doing this with them, but before he left, Kakashi surprised him with something he hadn't done to him since they were in college.

He'd pulled down his mask before leaning forward and placing a chaste kiss on the Uchiha's lips. He'd frozen on the spot. Back then, even after high school, Itachi was still exploring his sexuality, unsure of which side he wanted to stay. One day it was women, another men, though sexually so, he never let himself get into bed with someone of his own gender. After Sarada was born, he'd seldom had time to continue his hunt.

Which brought him to the offer that Kakashi, his longtime comrade, had asked of him that Saturday: he asked Itachi for lunch or even dinner to see if the old Itachi Uchiha he'd known would be back in action - and this time with him. It would have been a blow to their friendship, but they'd known each other for years and what their weak spots were, and so forth. But Itachi had no answer, and no time to think since Sarada...

Everything in his life had always been Sarada this, Sarada that. _Sarada, Sarada...Sarada._

But thankfully, on Monday when he awoke, it was as if a weight had been lifted off his soul. The sunlight pouring in on his face made him mellow that he wanted to stay in bed, only he couldn't. Smiling, Itachi slid out of bed and went straight for Sarada's room, seeing the girl still passed out. _Those sedatives really_ were _that strong._ Chuckling, he decided to let her sleep a little longer and enjoy what little peace he earned. Barefoot, he padded down the stairs, deciding to start a fabulous breakfast of the American eggs benedict for once, since he was in a retro mood...

...but the good feeling did not last.

The front door was knocked on three times. Narrowing his eyes, Itachi turned to glare and wonder who the hell bothered him now. Kakashi was gone by now, so it couldn't be Shisui either. _Naruto and the family, perhaps?_

Either way, he felt the cold shiver up his spine. Which increased when he answered it, since no one was there. Perhaps it was someone playing with him. Sniffing, Itachi sighed at the fresh autumn air; the sound of Kyuui's hissing caused him to turn his head around and see the feline looking ahead of him and arching back at whatever antagonized him. When Itachi followed the animal's gaze, he leaped back by a step.

His heart leaped against his sternum.

His hands shook, palms breaking out into sweat.

His brain was on overdrive.

The breeze that picked up caused the loose locks of hair from his ponytail to fly about his vision.

 _Mister Babadook_ lay right there at his feet.

 **The actual moment in the movie when the little boy had the seizure really scared the living daylights out of me - as did the return of the book. :S The film really was well done in terms of the atmosphere, the tension and emotions.**


	4. The Threats

**I've noticed there hardly is any Itachi/Sarada fics around, and if there were any extended, few cared to finish.**

 **By the time you finish reading this latest, it's DEFINITELY worthy of a review - and the coldest chills you'd feel in your lifetime.**

Chapter Four

The Threats

 _Why the hell -! How the hell -?!_

His brain couldn't form coherent thoughts as he hurriedly picked up the cursed object and slammed the door shut, locking it right away. The cat meowed sharply and leaped around to run up the stairs, maybe to Sarada's room. Taking several heavy breaths, Itachi felt his lungs burn as he hurried into the kitchen, slamming the book on the counter and opening it.

All the pages had been ripped bit by bit. Now they were back together as if by hand. It was difficult to determine whether by tape or glue, but what did it matter? Everything was in place despite the imperfections as proof. But when Itachi passed the final page that was the "death wish", his heart stopped in its tracks at the bold kanji text.

 **私はあなたと賭けるよ** \- **I'LL WAGER WITH YOU.**

 **私はあなたに賭けをします** \- **I'll make you a BET.**

It was a message - to HIM. He closed his eyes for a moment, putting a hand over his rapidly thundering heart which picked up the pace. He could almost hear Sarada speaking to him, _through_ him.

 _The Babadook is speaking to you._

The kanji text next became a blur to his eyes, but the message was clear: _**The more you deny, the stronger**_ **I** _ **get.**_

Now when he found himself on the page with the victim in bed, looking overhead at the monster, it displayed the fiend larger before the eyes as emphasis for how "stronger" it was getting, and the demand to be let in even greater. Only this time, the little girl - _Sarada_ \- wasn't in place, but a full grown man shrinking in bed in fear.

The man was _himself._

 _Dear Kami, what is going on...?_ Itachi's pores broke out into sweat as he carried on, seeing himself shadowed by the Babadook with his own arms spread out...the pictures becoming all the more menacing and murderous, the pop-ups before his eyes, as if he were really in them...

 _ **You start to CHANGE when I get in...**_

 _His heart palpitations increased with anxiety, likely due to his niece's condition worsening. Therefore, he is turning into something else...something he could no longer control._

 _ **The BABADOOK growing right UNDER YOUR SKIN...**_

 _His flesh reaches bubbling and boiling point as the blood beneath._

 _ **Oh, come - COME SEE WHAT'S UNDERNEATH!**_

 _The monster overshadowing the man with his cat in hand...before primal intent overtakes all reason, and he snaps the animal's neck in half..._

 _...the little girl is next..._

 _...and the man cuts his own throat, spilling vivid red blood down the front of his nude body...explicitly detailed._

STOOOOOOOOOP!

With a strangled gasp and cry in one, Itachi slammed the book shut. The macabre imagery - they could NOT happen to him, his niece OR their cat if he had anything to say about this! If tearing it apart and throwing it into the trash wouldn't help, then he knew the person to call. _Someone is harassing us, that is all. They put this together to crack me down like this..._

Sarada was still sleeping, but how much longer before she woke? In the meantime, Itachi had Kakashi on the phone and was wiping his face, forehead and exposed neck of the perspiration. "You were there, Kakashi," he said heatedly, reaching for the cup of tea he'd brewed and had calmed him down only so much. "You saw me tear it up and throw it into the trash. But now it's back; someone found it and glued it together during the night!"

There was a heavy sigh on the other end. He could just see the silver-haired man rubbing his temples. _"Perhaps it was,"_ Kakashi said at last, _"but maybe it's best to come by the station for the report. I would say burn the book, but we need it as evidence, Itachi."_ In the background, someone was calling for him. _"Oops, that's me. I have to leave now."_ Itachi exhaled but relented. This afternoon was the plan if it was the last thing...but that also meant Shisui going to him about this and demanding to know why he never told him, his best friend and cousin, of all people.

 _Time to wake the kid._ But no sooner did he put his mobile down on the table and was just going up the stairs did he hear the ringtone. His brows furrowed when he saw Kakashi's name on the ID. _What could you...?_ It was strange; if his former partner was needed for the next case, why would he call him back not even two minutes later?

"Kakashi?"

There was a pause, followed by some clicking...then the most horrendous of croaks spoke in _words_. The kind to haunt your darkest dreams for possibly the rest of your life.

 _"Ba-ba - dook. Dooook...DOOOOOK!"_

He ended it so fast he almost dropped it to the floor. Itachi collapsed to his knees and gasped for air, his lungs contracting as if suffering a gear halt. Whoever that was, they knew his phone number, as well.

He decided now he would leave and go to his old workplace for the report, even if it meant facing Shisui.

~o~

How long had it been since he set foot in here? Very few looked his way, but those who did and recognized him gave him smiles and waved his way, which he returned, but he didn't stop until he reached the counter and was greeted by none other than his former superior.

"Itachi Uchiha - never thought I'd see you again after seven years," Ibiki Morino told him with a tilt of a smile. "You look like you're doing well. How is it being a history teacher at the high school?" The man always had something better to do than to catch up on gossip or even old friends, but it seemed now was a good opportunity for him.

"It's been well for me, Ibiki," he answered, his breathing controlled well. "And Sarada...she's as well as she can be."

The man grunted and motioned for him to come into his office. "I just sent Hatake out not even half an hour ago, and your cousin is busy assisting a new rape case - an eighteen-year-old college girl by a former flame who didn't take their split so well. It hasn't been the same without you here, but we've gone by. But you're not here on just a social call, are you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Itachi shook his head and sat down in the chair for visitors. "No, Ibiki. I'm here because I want to..." He stopped to clear his throat. "I never thought I would find myself here for this reason. But someone is stalking me and my niece."

Surprise flashed over the scarred man's face, then his attention fell to the red thing wrapped up in plastic white bags - leftover grocery bags that Itachi did not have the care to throw out. "Really, someone after you both," he stated. "That hasn't happened to you since I don't know when. What happened?"

"Someone sent us this...children's book." He held up the thing, pulling the front aside to show the title and black character of the name. "It contains violent and graphic images of us and our cat being murdered." He placed it on the desk surface, repulsed to his core and relieved to no longer touching that thing. "He even called me today, not even two minutes after I spoke to Kakashi." He leaned back and went on to tell his former boss about Sarada's episodes since his reading of the book to her - unknowing what would be inside until too late - and not thinking much of it until it got worse. Finishing with Kakashi being present at Sarada's seizure and now the book returning today, followed by the call under Kakashi's name.

"But it can't have been him to do this," he insisted. _Kakashi has never done such things. He was with me when I tore the thing up, then left before today..._

But why could he not control the chill in his body? His cop instincts insisted to think it was possible and to not think based on personal feelings. Morino seemed to be thinking the same, for he glared at the damnable book and then back up at the Uchiha. "We'll have to follow standard procedure and have him back in when he is done with his duty, to confirm if he made the call you mentioned, Itachi. In the meantime..."

But Itachi lost track of what he was saying and found himself looking across the room to where the coat rack was...and felt himself stop in his own tracks.

 _Long black coat...top hat...claws for hands..._

 _The Babadook._

"Itachi?"

He shook his head and looked back up at Ibiki. "Forgive me. I was lost in thought."

"Why don't you go back home to the kid until we get word back to you?"

Somehow, that did not make him feel safer, and he could hear that voice in the back of his head: _**"No one can HELP YOU!"**_

~o~

He'd left Sarada at the Uzumakis' again, if it was only for an hour, and Hinata was planning to take her husband and toddler out. Boruto was still in school. In fact, Itachi was still firmly set on putting his niece in a much better school than that one - unless something could be done about those two old fools, even if he were to sign a petition himself.

As a second option, he thought about having her homeschooled, but she needed proper social skills from her age to the future. He wanted her to go to the best college she could in the country, never mind any future declines.

It had been barely a couple weeks since he'd cleaned house himself, so when he was just doing the laundry, the doorbell rung. He was greeted by none other than Anko Mitarashi, whom he remembered had helped him get custody of Sarada after she was born and her parents' funeral. "Anko, it's been -"

"Years, I know, Uchiha," the woman told him with a hearty laugh. "Well, I couldn't help but learn of your troubles with the counselors, so I thought I'd come by and let you see some of the options we could put her in when the time is right. After all, that kid deserves a place to be recognized."

Itachi smiled graciously at her. "That is why I can count on you, Anko."

She cracked a grin before turning to look at their surroundings. "Oh, I think I caught you at the wrong time?" The place was once immaculately clean by the Uchiha's OCD hand, but with Sarada getting worse, he seldom could find the right time without his niece pausing him at every turn. And speaking of the little one - "Sara-chan!" The girl was sitting slouched on the long sofa, giving a tired smile.

"Hi, Anko-san," she murmured. "I'm just tired from the...medicine Itachi- _oji_ gave me."

 _And this was why I don't want to lose her. Chances are she could be taken away from me, my brother's child and my own flesh and blood who wanted me from the moment she was born..._ "It was prescribed by the doctor," he told Anko, at the look she gave him. "She had a fit yesterday. It's only until I...get her an appointment." Hinted was what KIND of an appointment, which the woman seemed to get, for she nodded in silent agreement.

Later when she left uncle and niece alone, Itachi held the girl close to him as they enjoyed a good anime called _The Seven Deadly Sins._ There wasn't anything intense, particularly, but it was epic and humorous in the making. Itachi could smile and hold her as she fell asleep at some point during the night, and in time for him to get her to take her medication.

~o~

Late in the night, the wind howled.

Sarada passed out on the side of the bed beside her parents' memorial on the table. Itachi, however, tried to sleep well but had been awoken at some point. But before he turned the lights out, to gaze upon the wardrobe in his room, partially opened...

 _There is nothing -_ no one _\- there. The police are going after someone made of flesh and blood, like the ones I used to catch and put behind bars with them._ But no matter how many times he would say that, he could not relax. He had only one good night's rest, and needed more if his niece was going to do this. To lay beside her, even if it was via sedation and prescription, gave him a sense of peace. Her back was turned to him, but it was enough to tell him that she would finally get better once that bastard after them was behind bars and wasn't the monster from those pages, after all.

But if it wasn't Kakashi - after all, it was confirmed - then who the hell was it to get a hold of his number? The team found no trace to any known location, so his friend was cleared of suspicion.

 _Whoever it is, they are damned good._

Itachi found himself laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling, where streams of silvery light reflected, giving him a small sense of comfort. However...

 _Scraping...followed by mewls._

He sighed with relief when he slid out of bed, wearing just his underwear, his bared skin shivering at the loss of warmth, and opened the door to let Kyuui in. The black cat leaped onto the loveseat next to the window, curling into himself before going to sleep. The Uchiha closed the door and turned to walk back into bed beside the still-sleeping girl...

...only to _hear_ the door knob turn and creak in the hinges. Itachi froze as he watched the scene. For a few seconds, there was no movement - but then a flash in the streaming light caused his body to jerk and slip under the bed, sliding closer to his niece. He remained frozen in place, praying to the gods he was only seeing things...but his prayers were not answered.

 _ **"Ba-ba...dook. Dooook...DOOOOOK!"**_

The voice...the words...the call...

 _He's here._

The man who was haunting him and his niece right beside him. He was here, in Itachi Uchiha's bedroom. Scratches and chitters followed with each movement he could sense.

Suddenly, an invisible force pulled down the blankets from his being, but Sarada remained untouched and unaware of what was happening. Gasping sharply, Itachi found himself exposed and vulnerable to the THING overhead, on the ceiling... _watching within the little shadows._ His hands found themselves on either side of his head, held down by invisible shackles, and his ankles were next - spreading his legs wide open...before his tight-fitted briefs were yanked off. Leaving him nude, in his own bed, with _Sarada beside him._

Gritting his teeth, Itachi tried to pull free from his confinement and failed. He was the prey to the predator above, swallowing hard in his throat. Knowing what was going to happen to him. Above, the growls and chittering from the beast above him increased.

 _Soon I'll take off my funny disguise...you'll see what's underneath...and you're going to wish you were DEAD._

 _The more you DENY, the stronger I GET._

His jaw was forced apart when he felt something _cold and metallic_ ghost over the front of his body. He bit back a grimace at the sensations that traveled through his nerves and sensitive parts. The muscles in his arms and legs twitched, and his nipples reacted as tightly. He saw nothing before his eyes, directly touching him, but it FELT like there was. Feeling rather than seeing, the invisible razors traveled down, tenderly pinching his firm thighs before going further in. Ashamed of himself, Itachi was losing control of his own body.

The thing above continued to croak down to him as it continued its torture of his naked body: _**"Ba-ba...BA-BAAAA..."**_

His heart jumped against his rib cage. Itachi's pubic region and his manhood received the most disgraceful attention. The sensitive length of meat twitched against the waving mound of curls. His hips sizzled like an engine coming to life, rotating in time with each movement as a spot was hit between his legs, his delicate balls now poked and prodded at the mercy of his forced arousal. Why was this...stalker...this _monster_...making him feel...?

 _ **"Dook..."**_

His guard had been dropped on purpose. For the second his orgasm was impending at the same time the demonic thing with the razor hands and top hat from the book descended down on him with both arms spread out on either side...Itachi saw _his face_.

 _ **"...dooook..."**_

The face that made you wish you were dead, as he'd been warned: pale, chalky, set with pinprick eyes and an inky mouthful of humanized teeth which did no justice to the fangs of the great white shark. The grotesque sight as well as the noises IT said increased as it came down his way...

 _ **"DOOOOOK!"**_

~o~

He bolted forward in bed, staring ahead at the closed wardrobe and then to the cat still sleeping in the chair. His body shook uncontrollably in the way similar to his niece's fits, shaking off the buckets of sweat that split from every pore he had. His hair was drenched and sticking to his neck, his back, around his face and naked shoulders.

What was worse: his undergarments clung to him in a certain uncomfortably sticky tightness, telling him what his predicament was. Acting on impulse and not stopping to think, Itachi jerked the string of his lamp down to turn the bulb on, lighting the room up. There was no trace of the man with the top hat anywhere, except...

Growling through his teeth with vengeance in mind, Itachi stomped forward to the wardrobe and yanked the doors open, not once stopping and uncaring of wrinkling his good clothes, determined to find the bastard who...

Touched him... _violated him...with SARADA beside him..._

No one. But that did not mean he could not be somewhere else inside the house. Snarling, Itachi remembered his damp but drying underwear, soaked with his own fluids, and furiously tugged them down his legs before throwing them into the damned closet without a care. The nearest substitute he found were a t-shirt and sweatpants without replacing his boxers. He looked over to see Sarada murmuring and reaching to rub her eyes, coming out of her drugged state. He was relieved she didn't wake earlier to see her uncle _naked_ before her eyes. He would have traumatized her for the rest of her days.

" _Oji-san?_ " she mumbled, grabbing her glasses and putting them on, just as he impatiently picked her up and carried her like his little bride. "What's wrong? Where are we going?"

"Downstairs," he answered simply, irritated at the questions.

"Why?"

"Because I said so," he clipped back, and that prevented her from prying. She rested her head against his shoulder, but the innocent and pleading touch made his skin crawl simply because a certain private area of his anatomy still twitched and tingled at the memory of his _dream._

With more searches of the house, and seeing every door and window locked - including the basement which still had Sarada's traps and weapons, and the old belongings of her parents - the bastard wasn't found. Which meant that it had all been a nightmare that Itachi had on his turn.

But why did it feel so _real_ \- and why was his body reacting the way it was now?

 **I felt like I had been taken back to the time I first saw the scene of the night visit from the Babadook, only what the mother experienced was different from Itachi's episode. In other words, due to the information I discovered on the Internet regarding this top-hatted monster, it inspired me for this.**

 **Since the movie's release, a lot of people on the Internet started to make connections to the fact the Babadook was a symbol of homosexuality (example, "being in the closet and eventually coming out", wearing the hat, etc.). Though the monster is a metaphor for grief and death of a loved one, depression, others have gone insane with the homosexual representation that they actually USE the character as their icon. Not to offend anyone of the community, but that's what I have seen, and now look what was brought to life between Itachi and the monster. (cringes) It makes it that much more disturbing.**

 **Be warned: the next chapter is going to have "breakdown" for reasons.**


	5. The Breakdown

**I know I warned at the end of the previous chapter, but Itachi cracks in here and onward.**

Chapter Five

The Breakdown

Everything for him was in a blur, a daze even...for the rest of the night. Each event until dawn broke - he wasn't sure what happened anymore. He was in and out of his own body, aware but unable to move from the same place. When he brought Sarada and himself down here, the cat awoke and followed them. He leaped onto the sofa to sit beside the master himself.

Itachi no longer paid attention to certain shows he watched during the wee hours of the morning. He was going to call in sick once more, stay home with Sarada even if he hated it. He used to be accustomed to lack of sleep during his days as a police officer...but the agony he was suffering now wasn't compared to the times he failed to catch a criminal in every form.

Each time he thought he SAW the Babadook, with his top hat and clawed hands...that mockery of a face...

...each touch he remembered...

Why did his groin continue to throb even though there had been no actual penetration?

By the time morning broke clear and bright, he was fully awake and aware - but in desperate need of the sleep he had been deprived of. He didn't want to deal with _anything_ today.

Not even Sarada.

The sound of the cat meowing when he sensed his master's mood made his being darken instantly. A small part of him wished he could _snap that little neck..._ but he shook the deadly thought off and shakily stood after turning the television off, proceeding to walk upstairs and drop onto his bed. He felt himself drift off into sleep...ignoring the calls of a certain irritating little girl he'd been entrusted with, gave up his life for her sake...

 _"...Ita-_ oji...!"

Darkness claimed him within moments.

~o~

When he awoke, there were no words to describe how...mellow he was, like when morning broke and Sarada had slept very well on her prescribed medicine. He wanted to just sleep forever, with the sun shining on his skin, until death claimed him peacefully...

...but reality struck him across the face as the weight of the bed lifted, and a soft mewl was heard. Kyuui was in the room. Itachi moaned and stretched, rolling over on his back to gaze at the black feline curled on the foot of the bed, but looking at him intently and flicking his tail about. Seeing the kitty made him smile - but it was gone as quickly as it came when he saw the time was noon.

 _Sarada!_

Itachi leaped out of bed and dashed around the house, but she wasn't in her room or even the kitchen. He bellowed her name, rushing down to the basement, but she wasn't there, either. Panic flared; what the hell had he been thinking, neglecting her like this?! He slammed this door shut and swore in his tongue, at the same time he heard his ringtone go off in the living room. Clenching his jaw, he picked it up and saw _Shisui_ on the screen. He unlocked the screen and answered breathlessly. "Shisui -" He was cut off by his cousin's explosion.

 _"Would you mind explaining to me WHY Sarada called me and asked me to come and pick her up?!"_

He swallowed and bit the inside of his cheek. _That little..._ "Look, it's inexcusable that I -"

 _"Damn right, it is inexcusable! In fact, I took the liberty of leaving with Morino's permission to take the kid to school since her legal guardian had forgotten! You have any idea how that looks?!"_ Shisui asked furiously. _"She could very much be taken out of your custody! You'd better be lucky she said you were too sick to take her today!"_

 _Well...she had common sense to not tell the truth there._ "Shisui." He grunted and slouched in the sofa. "She's right about that, and last night, I had absolutely no sleep. I feel insomnia is taking its toll on me more than her." He reached up with his free hand to rub his eyes. "Is she safe, Shisui?" he asked. She was his responsibility, even if he forgot about her - and on his own will. His own foolishness.

Itachi Uchiha could feel himself changing, and not for the better. The tightening in his groin vividly clear in his memory was proof of that. The sensations, the humiliation, the shame...but the fact that his body's needs for MORE were waking up.

Shisui sighed sharply. _"She's fine. In fact, as much as I was happy to see her again and she was the one to make her step -" She used my phone; how else could she have reached him? She can read names, at least. "- I think the one raising her should have kept his head in the game even if he didn't mean it. When you go and pick her up, I'm coming right over there with Kakashi."_

 _Kakashi..._

Thinking about the silver-haired man made him decide about the offer, after all.

~o~

"Uncle." He felt himself cringe at the look she was giving him when he pulled up in front of her school and picked her up. She was with Boruto and a pale-looking boy with yellow eyes, giving him the slight appearance of a reptile. It took him a moment to remember that the boy's name was Mitsuki, adopted son of Orochimaru who was the town's head of the insane asylum. A twinge of jealousy coursed through him when he realized she was more popular with boys than she realized - than HE realized.

 _Is she starting to..._ see _boys now? Does she see something else in Boruto that I don't know? When she is only_ seven?!

The dark, primal side of himself slowly inched forward again. Did he see it matching in her eyes, as well, because of his actions towards her today?

She got into the back of the car without a word. When he was just pulling out, she finally spoke. "Uncle Shisui and Kakashi-san are coming to see us."

"Indeed...but the next time I hear that you phoned them without my permission, I should just lock you in your room for the day after I give you another dose of your medicine," he hissed, gripping the wheel. _Anything to teach her a lesson. I am the superior, not her. She thinks she can go off on me like this and take control, make me feel like the pathetic one after everything I have done for her..._

Sarada said nothing. He frowned to himself, relaxing his posture. He couldn't think of what to say. Slowly, the raging fire ebbed when he realized the mistake he'd made when he spoke to her like this. Looking in the rearview mirror, he saw his niece looking out the window to her left...and there was the shine of a tear down her cheek. She was crying.

Itachi could not remember the last time he talked to her this way: so cold, cruel and unforgiving. "Sara-chan..." His voice failed as his heart sank.

She didn't speak to him the rest of the way back to the house. That was when he saw the police car parked right in the driveway. Kakashi and Shisui were leaning against the hood, waiting and with somber faces. He was prepared for the talk of the century from his cousin.

"Uncle Shisui!" the little girl squealed, leaping from the car and running his way, throwing her arms around his waist. He laughed proudly and returned the embrace. The mood around her shifted altogether, leaving him with Kakashi who came up to him and spoke quietly.

"What brought on your actions today, Itachi?"

"It was hardly a fault, but I take full responsibility," he answered calmly. "I fell ill and barely slept, and it consumed me against my will."

"Inexcusable, yes," the silver-haired man replied. "In that case, I ought to say this business with the 'Babadook' might be adding to it." He felt himself stiffen. How could he tell him about the...dream? "The book turned up missing during the night."

Itachi felt himself freeze as he looked at his friend. "S-stolen?" _During the night? It would have showed up again..._

Kakashi nodded gravely. "We had surveillance, but when we ran the footage, it was just there under guard only to just...vanish out of nowhere. Nobody broke in, and nothing else turned up missing. We ruled you out, in addition." So, his own old department thought to _suspect_ him, huh? Itachi's rage bubbled back to the surface and might have just showed through his eyes. He felt his lips pull back in a snarl, but before he could say a word, Kakashi held up both hands placatingly. "Whoa, don't get wild, Itachi. You know how this goes; you used to be one of us, remember?"

"Before I had to leave because of..." He turned his attention to where Shisui and Sarada were still having their moment. It was then that his cousin turned his attention towards him with a beam on his face - but they were still going to talk about his mistake sooner or later.

"How does everyone feel about miso salmon, rice and my personally made salad - and then a dessert cuisine of _daifuku_ cake, dumplings and _uiro_?" Sarada was jumping up and down, happily, which made her go and run towards the house. Kakashi chuckled, shook his head and followed her to the front door, which left Itachi once more alone with Shisui whose expression hardened.

"Itachi, you're my best friend, and I am saying these words because of it: I see something different about you I never would have expected even while you were still with us in the force. You're changing, and certainly not for the better."

Itachi exhaled sharply, closing his eyes as the answer.

~o~

"Food was great, Shisui- _oji!_ " Sarada said happily, and it seemed she was like this because her other uncle was doing better today than he had ever done. The dark cloud of envy washed over Itachi without a thought. Why did he let Shisui do all of this today? He was the one who raised the girl from the day she was born. "I'll help with the dishes!"

 _"I'll help with the dishes..."_

She NEVER once offered to help _him,_ her Uncle Itachi, do the dishes. It had always been him to do it for her, let her do what she wanted. She was only a child, but she was still learning. He downed down the last of the tea and watched as Shisui laughed with her, accepting the plates she brought to him. "When will we make the desserts?" she asked excitedly, earning a ruffle of her hair.

"Now, if you want." Then his attention shifted towards Itachi and Kakashi, serious now. "You two, it'll be a while, so maybe you two can head out for some...fun while the kid and I get the sweets ready?"

He was telling them both - Itachi especially - to leave the house for some well-deserved "alone time" while he and Sarada were alone in the house... _with the_ monster _..._ because he thought it best that they were separated for awhile, and for Itachi to try and loosen up. Now that he thought of it: _perhaps I need it, after all. Kakashi and I..._

"I agree then," Itachi stated, standing from the table and pulling Kakashi to his knees. The silver-haired man started but complied in silent agreement. "Lead the way, Kakashi." He didn't get to reach the door before a small force wrapped around his waist, holding him tight as if not wanting him to go. He looked down and felt a small smile tug his mouth when he saw his niece there.

"Uncle..." she said softly, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "...please don't go away."

 _Don't go away...so you don't lose the one you want as a third wheel now?_ But the bleak, cruel words didn't leave his lips. Itachi allowed a weak smile to reach his eyes as he reached behind her neck, massaging the place where her spinal cord began, making her whimper a little. But her irises glazed over with tears she held back. A tiny fraction of his heart cracked.

Thankfully, he and Kakashi left when the silver-haired man patted the child's head, then pulled Itachi away and out the front door, pushing him into the car, which Itachi allowed, and made their way for the bar for a couple drinks. But on Itachi's mind, the last thing he needed was a couple drinks, as he was aware that his body and mind - and maybe his soul, which wasn't shattered enough - needed more, and it was one thing only that he was sure Kakashi had on his own mind and was doing this for his friend.

 _Maybe just for tonight. Just tonight only, and it's back to normal._

 _ **Define normal,**_ the darker half of his subconscious sneered as he finished the last of the sake and allowed himself to be taken to the back - and there it was all a haze, but otherwise, he was aware of what was exactly happening between him and his former partner, and he could understand every word Kakashi was saying.

"...sure...want this?" The words were suddenly a blur, but he knew what the other man was asking of him. His flesh bubbled as the blood boiled beneath. He was pressed against the wall, wanting something rough and exciting instead of the bed. He could collapse into his own when they got back to the house.

He grunted when his still-clothed groin, hard with arousal, rubbed against the other's. "Nn-yes." He released his hold on the other's shoulders and proceeded to yank off his own t-shirt, and Kakashi followed suit. Their pants and undergarments joined, leaving them both naked in the claustrophobic room. The temperature seemed to increase, the alcohol in his system stronger than the other's was. He moaned when his exposed hardness was caressed by his partner. His own hand couldn't even give THIS amount of powerful pleasure to him! "Oh, gods, give it to me, Kakashi!" Itachi bucked into that hand, his hips moving on their own. The wooden panels behind him flushed against his nude back and buttocks.

He desperately clawed at the other's toned back, pulling him closer for contact. Kakashi's mask still covered the lower half of his face, but the Uchiha wanted more. He wanted lips on his, on his skin - _everywhere._ The silver-haired man got the message. He latched his mouth on the spot where Itachi's neck and shoulder met. The vein beneath his teeth throbbed with excruciating bliss. Itachi arched himself into Kakashi, wrapping one leg around his waist, bringing him closer.

His nipples received desired attention from that tongue, but that was enough to push Itachi over the edge. " _Give it to me!"_ His own voice was a guttural roar to his own ears, but he soon found himself released only to be turned around and pressed against the wall, the other's erection pressed into him, but Kakashi paused.

"Itachi...hold on." He knelt down to where he'd dropped his pants, pulling something out - _lubricant._ Itachi gritted his teeth as he watched, then turned his face to the other side, not wanting to watch, impatient beyond his limits. It wasn't long before something long, thick and slick wasted no time in sliding between his ass cheeks.

His yells bounced off the walls.

The thrusts were slow before picking up because he _demanded_ it. Kakashi looked at him with concern when he complied, but it was what the Uchiha wanted. The pain that burned his inner muscles became pleasure with each rhythm. His loins sizzled inside, but he couldn't bring a hand of his own down to relieve himself, so he settled on taking one of his partner's and guiding it down to where he wanted to be touched. _Just like that..._

"Harder, Kakashi!"

A shadow was casting over his vision, and a familiar voice was echoing into his senses, in his haze of lust, pleasure, pain and insanity: _**"Ba-ba...dook. Doook...DOOOOK!"**_

The climax that erupted from between his legs and onto the wall in front of him, as well as into his own body, was the last thing he remembered before he blacked out...not before a familiar pair of razor-like hands appeared before his vision on the wood before him.

~o~

 _"...Itachi?"_

Wincing, he opened his eyes and found three faces looking over him - and a fourth appeared, small and black. His body was light and numb, but then a familiar throb in his lower body shot and made him grimace. "Uncle!" Sarada cried, stepping back. "Are you okay? Do you want us to call the doctor?!"

 _Louder than before..._

"Sara-chan," he gritted out, "lower your voice. And no, I do not want you to call anyone." He yawned and closed his eyes, laying back. "I just need to sleep." _And to get away from all of you...after just..._

 _That was the best escape I ever had._

Even in his haze, Itachi Uchiha could officially state that he was not straight. But he didn't want to admit it.

The voices overhead became distinct to a point where he could no longer make them out. Smoke hissed in his senses, his body thrumming to life in his returning stupor. He felt like he was going to sleep for eternity, and he deserved it. He could see himself floating amongst the clouds. He let himself go -

\- but his hungered peace wasn't granted. Someone grabbed him by the shirt and shook him like there was no tomorrow, snapping him to reality just as his temper snapped.

"ITACHI!" Shisui roared in his face. "WAKE THE HELL UP!"

His fist moved of its own volition and punched the elder Uchiha to the face, sending him across the room and into the closed doors of the wardrobe. Kakashi and Sarada both stared at him in shock, even more at Itachi's change in temperament, but the girl looked worse. Kyuui the cat meowed angrily and jumped off the bed to run towards Shisui who was picking himself up. Just who did he think he was to come into Itachi's home, to shake him awake and into this wretched existence?

"How...dare you?" he hissed, standing and going his cousin's way, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and lifting him off the floor. His temper was on boiling point. He was ready to murder someone now, and the first was right in front of him.

"Do the both of you," he said slowly, dangerously, turning his eye to the silver-haired man he'd had the wildest - and most exquisite - time with, but now his fury reached tenfold, "think you can just come into my home and invade -" He was interrupted when Kakashi stormed over and took him by the shoulder, pulling him away from Shisui and allowing the other man to slide down the old wardrobe.

The silver-haired man was livid. "What is the matter with you, Itachi? You've been so strange I can't place it. Has this business gotten to you? This 'Babadook' stalker?" The mere mention of the name made his lip pull back with a snarl. "We haven't even found traces of him, and I know damned well you would never...but now I am looking at you. I think you need to get some help, Itachi."

 _Get some help..._

 _You're calling me insane._

Baring his teeth wider, Itachi glared between his two friends and then at his little nuisance of a niece when she spoke. "He's right, Uncle. The Babadook is making you act like this. Let them both help us. We can't fight this alone -"

"'We can't fight this,'" Itachi interrupted, mocking her off the bat and making her shrink into Kakashi, behind him. He laughed harshly, the feeling burning in his chest. "You little - you're the one making me act like this. There is no Babadook, like I have told you hundreds of times!" he roared. "You, who never allowed me a decent night's rest for who knows how long, for thinking to cause me this much trouble - and the night your parents were taken away, I get you instead! I throw away my entire life for YOU!"

Shisui struck him on the back of his head. The impact erupted in the back of his cranium, causing some of his vision to go white, and his fury amplified into a hundredfold. "Don't you go blaming the innocent child for something that wasn't her control! You really need to see someone, cousin. You thought you were the only one to lose Sasuke and Sakura that night?" he said angrily. "He was my cousin, too, and he was Naruto's best friend, but even Naruto didn't go as far as how low you've sunk now!" His eyes widened at the blow he never saw coming. Itachi's powerful fist hit him straight in the face, and it was strong enough to knock him out cold.

He whirled around and saw Kakashi come towards him, but he dodged the man's way. He wasn't going to let anyone get in his way tonight or anytime. He didn't intend to kill them. No, he would stun them and keep them down until he could figure out how to keep them both from putting him in the insane asylum, under Orochimaru...

Itachi delivered a kick to Kakashi's abdomen, sending him inches overhead, before he went sailing into the wall on the other side, also knocking him into unconsciousness. Luckily, he sustained nothing of the sort to damage his cortex or break his neck.

Now he was alone with Sarada, who shivered with horror at the sight and the monster her uncle was becoming. To see the fear in her eyes roused him to no end. A demonic smile split his face.

"Now then, you little _gaki_ ," Itachi said, advancing on her, "what can I do now to make sure I can trust you won't breathe another word...?"

 **Everyone knows what dango is, but** _ **uiro**_ **is a traditional Japanese cake steamed and made of rice flour as well as sugar - like dumplings and other desserts, and can be tri-colored - and** _ **daifuku**_ **cakes are made with sweet filling like** _ **anko,**_ **also known as sweet red bean paste.**

 _ **Gaki**_ **is Japanese for "brat", and it scared the shit out of me that Itachi had to call his own niece that, like the mother really turned crazy on her young son in the movie - all because he was trying to protect her from the monster in her home.**

 **I had a really hard time writing insane Itachi as he finally relieves his sexual frustration - but as a consequence, it serves to draw him deeper into the darkness that the Babadook shadows over him. Now with Shisui and Kakashi in the mess, let's see what they do to try and help now...**


	6. The Madness

**If Itachi's descent into insanity isn't disturbing enough, then what happens in here IS GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU WET YOUR PANTS. Because that is what happened to me when I got to the big climax. The child had begun as an annoying weirdo, screaming monsters - but when his mother goes batshit, it's up to him to save the day.**

 **Now that Kakashi and Shisui were taken down, it's up to Sarada now...**

Chapter Six

The Madness

"P-please, _oji-san_ ," Sarada begged, stepping out the opened doorway of the bedroom, over the fallen forms of her other uncle and the other not by blood, both so-called great cops who got decked out by another one of their own - or rather, who _used_ to be one of them. "They're trying to help..."

 _ **BANG!**_

The attack made her squeeze her eyes shut and caused her to fall to the floor, crawling away from him. Oh, yes, she could run, but she couldn't get away from him. He was going to give her the lesson of the lifetime, and he would start by locking those two on the floor in the basement, keeping vigil for the night, even if it meant more sleep lost.

"I'm trying to protect you, too! Why won't you let me?!"

It seemed his punch into the wall, next to the door enough to leave a visible dent, wasn't enough to quiet her. "SHUT UP!" he bellowed, standing over her. The tears shone down her cheeks, but she bravely looked him in the eyes. How could she LOOK at him like that? HOW DARE SHE LOOK AT HIM LIKE THAT?! Itachi growled like the animal coming to the surface. He wished he had a knife in his hand to cut her little throat...

...but something sharp on his bare ankle made him cry out and stumble backwards. He looked down and saw Kyuui there, hissing at him and then turning to run away to hide from him. He glared at the little shit piece of a cat as he fled to safety. But that thing was the least of his worries. "Sarada," he said, taking a few breaths to calm himself down. He was going to do this without attracting attention to himself. He would not go to jail or the institution.

He would NOT have Sarada taken from him. She was his to handle.

Another few breaths, and his heartbeat calmed down.

The volcanic waves subsided.

"Sarada..." She was still looking up at him, intently and keeping an eye out for any hints he would turn on her again, and if she so much as said the wrong thing, he certainly would. He was prepared to strike her if she did, see if it taught her a lesson. "...I will not hurt you if you promise to help me get these two down into the basement."

Her eyes widened. He watched carefully, seeing the consideration of refusing, before she got better sense to agree if she knew what was good for her. Satisfied, Itachi walked over to where Shisui lay sprawled upward against the wardrobe, and proceeded in dragging him away, towards the staircase. "Get his feet." Sarada hesitantly complied.

~o~

 _Kakashi and Shisui downstairs. Tied up, but they shall be given food and the likes, and trips to the bathroom they deserve - as long as I am watching, of course._

 _And if Sarada so much as tries to help them escape, there will be hell to pay._

It was a good thing he kept his old gun and bullets, in case of the need to protect himself and his niece ever came. No one threatened them thus far, but he was very strict with the security of the house. Not tonight, but tomorrow, he could use her help in the upgrades of the basement for the "sake" of dear Shisui and Kakashi.

Right now, he had the little brat in bed, and it was time for her pill. But damn it, she refused him. "I don't feel good," she mumbled.

"I am the parent," he hissed, closing his fist around the little white thing, "and you are the child. Do as I say or else." He was pleased when she took it into her mouth and swallowed with the water he gave her...or so he thought. He watched as she laid down beneath the covers but turned her back to him. She couldn't stand looking at him now. Half of him was relieved, but the other half threatened to explode again that she was defying him.

He needed a long, hot shower now before he retired himself. He deserved it, after all.

To stand beneath the pour from heaven, it was divine in itself. To be alone for the first time...his body on fire in and out in unimaginable pleasure exceeding sex...

...only for the lights to suddenly go out.

With a hiss, he turned off the water and stepped out, remembering where the towel was. Drying himself off and wrapping it around his waist, he blindly reached for his phone on the sink, using it as a flashlight to make his way around. The cold air raised the goosebumps on his naked skin. His long hair was free and damp down his back. To walk around like this with his niece passed out in her room, and two prisoners in the basement... _who the hell turned the lights out?_

The fuse was in the basement, and if any of them down there had somehow awoken and broken free - _of course, it would make sense. Either Kakashi or Shisui would do this._ He needed to look for his gun, and now he would blow them to hell if it was the last thing he would do.

He started right for his bedroom, but as soon as he opened the door, there was light, which made him frown...but then he saw the lone person standing in the middle of the room. Itachi barely heard himself gasp as he took in the somber, sad gaze in onyx eyes like his own, the wild mane of raven hair flaring like the rear end of a duck...

" _Sasuke._ "

His brother...his little brother...standing there...

"Oh, Sasuke!" Never mind his half-undressed state, Itachi ran over and threw his arms around the younger, feeling how SOLID he was. _Oh, gods, Sasuke...my baby brother..._ "I thought you were dead, _otouto!"_ He wanted to ask where Sakura was, because he wanted to see his sister-in-law, too. The younger Uchiha he believed to be dead wrapped his arms around his elder brother's waist to return the embrace, laying his head against a strong, bare chest.

 _"Aniki_..." To hear himself being called his big brother again made his heart flutter and soften. Maybe now that he was here again -

"We can be together again, big brother..." Suddenly, the air darkened and grew cold again. The light around them faded, leaving Itachi alone where he was. The outline of Sasuke's form was before him, but he could no longer see his beloved brother's face...and his voice had somehow deepened and became distorted.

 _"...if you bring me the girl."_

Itachi shook his head, the cold horror coming to the surface that this person...this _thing_...was NOT Sasuke. Whatever it was, it was toying with him. Sending his emotions and his feelings out of control, warping him...

 _Why did I LET IT?!_

 _ **"You can bring me the girl."**_

"Stop calling her 'the girl'!" _Just like Homura and Koharu._

And just like that, the electricity flared to life. Sasuke vanished - _no, it wasn't him_ \- and he was alone. But the fuse reacted yet again. He dashed out of his own bedroom, rushed for the staircase as every light source in the house flared to life only to cut off altogether. _Sarada...!_

Kakashi and Shisui were downstairs. There was no time to regret his earlier actions, but perhaps Sarada was right in that he needed help. Oh, he did, but it wasn't the kind he was thinking about -

 _ **"No one can help you."**_

There was that voice again. And the buzzing of insects, like cockroaches crawling in the walls and over. _The Babadook...that's what he - IT - is: a cockroach infesting this house._ The shadowy, faceless thing with the screeching claws for hands began to make his way towards Itachi from where his dead brother once stood, cuing the Uchiha to bolt to life and run out of the place which haunted him on nights like this one.

His feet banged on every step taken, and he didn't stop until he reached the front door, but it was locked. Every window was held shut. He was trapped. They were ALL trapped.

Why could he not go to the basement first? He tried to fight the urge not to go, but fear overtook all reason.

Itachi found himself tripping and falling forward so he was laying facedown and facing the fireplace of the living room. He groaned when he heard the rattling over his head...and then something fell from above. _A black top hat._

 _NO!_ Itachi turned to try and stand, but his body felt like lead, so he settled on crawling - but even the force was holding him in place. Behind him, the hideous groaning increased, turning into growls as the fiend advanced on him, from behind this time. The image of himself in the book - with the great shadow spreading its wings behind him - came to his mind.

And then, his towel was yanked off of him from behind, exposing his nude body. He tried to hold back the whimpers and cries threatening to tear from his throat at the cold razors running over his back, down to his butt cheeks and parting them ever so slowly and painfully...tearing more of his sanity apart than it already was...

 _It isn't real..it isn't real..._

 _IT ISN'T REAL!_

But the words were too small and too far gone for comfort.

The sound and feel of flesh ripping made his back arch, his head toss back, and his hair flare out like a curtain of chilled satin behind him. His pupils dilated, his mouth a wide O - and his howls became harsh shrieks that echoed the fiend's as it entered him through that place on his body.

~o~

 _ **Oh, Sarada, where are yoouuu?**_

That dark voice in his head called for the child he knew was awake. She had fooled him in not taking her pill. His inner demon had unleashed itself without a moment's hesitation. Without hesitation and thirsty for blood.

That damned feline - that black beast from hell that the little bitch picked up from the streets - had to go first. He found Kyuui, and had grabbed the creature by the scruff, relishing the warm skin and fur beneath his hand, ready to break its spinal cord and kill it...but a mild streak of pain clawed its way to his hand. Snarling, he let the cat go so it ran away to hide safely. He roared and started in its direction, intent on not letting it get away from him.

Then he heard the sound of doors closing and locking shut. He felt the grin stretch his face. _**I'm coming, little Sara-chan. Ready to take more than just your medicine?**_

And to walk up the stairs, slowly, naked and his hair loose, he thrilled on the hunt. **"Sarada,"** he called sweetly, before dropping it to something close to mournful, **"Kyuui is hurt, so we need to get help. You don't want him to die...do you?"** He got no response even when he reached the destination of her closed bedroom door. He heard nothing on the other side. His patience was thinning. **"Sarada, are you listening to me?"**

Just as he suspected, the door was locked. Now the thread broke, and the animal was let loose. With a growl, he jerked the knob. He would tear the damn thing off and break down this door if it was the last thing...

 **"LET ME IN, YOU LITTLE BITCH!** _ **LET ME IIIINNNN!"**_

As the final straw, he leaped into the air and grabbed the overhead doorframe, holding on as he kicked the door in four, five blows with both feet, ignoring the pain shooting through his legs - and the door was open. The window was open, too, the bed unmade, but no Sarada. Shrieking with rage, he began to hunt, starting under the bed, but she wasn't there. However, from the corner of his eyes...

 **"You little** _ **meinu**_ **,"** he raged, advancing on the child in her purple-and-pink plaid pajamas while he was stark naked - the trauma in her gaze as she looked up at him, trying to avoid looking down and over - and curling his fingers into claws, **"you have no idea how many times I wished it was YOU who died, not him."**

 _ **Sasuke...my little brother...**_

 **"He never should have married that slut that was your mother...the one who died after she let you pop into this dark and miserable world of ours..."**

 _ **Sakura...the pink-haired harlot...her fantastic career as a doctor and set her sights on the younger Uchiha, taking Sasuke away from me. He was all I had besides Shisui when our parents were taken away. He always stayed with me through thick and thin...until YOU TOOK HIM AWAY FROM ME!**_

 _ **"YOUR FATHER DIED BEFORE I GOT TO EVEN TALK TO HIM ONE LAST TIME!"**_

 _ **His neck broken...his eyes lifeless and staring up at me, but would never be able to see the birth of his own child which his wife was going to bring into the world...**_

"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

He loosened his hands only slightly, stricken by the outburst. The monster inside him paused to listen. **"What...did you...say...?"**

"It wasn't my fault the car broke on the way when Mom was having me!" Sarada screamed at him, some visible drops of her tears appearing on the insides of her glasses. "It wasn't my fault that you had to stop being a police officer just to always be there for me! I just wanted to be happy with you! I just wanted YOU happy!" The stomp of her foot made him lunge her way. She pushed too many of the wrong buttons, and she was going to pay.

 _ **"'I just want you to be happy' -**_ **sometimes I just want to smash your head against a brick wall until your little brains pop out!"** He missed her and found himself on the floor, after hitting his shoulder against the wall, his side flaring with fire and dropping him to the floor. Moaning in mild pain, he reached to rub that side of himself, then looked up when Sarada dared to speak again. _**Run, run, run that little mouth of yours - that mouth you got from your mother especially.**_

"You are NOT my Uncle Itachi," she spat, kicking at him in the face with her little foot. She'd hit him in the cheek, which also burned as his shoulder. If she broke a tooth inside, she would really die - not that he didn't plan on it.

White light flashed before his eyes along with a sizzling fire. **"AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"** The little shit of a bitch - _**SHE ALMOST BURNED MY FACE AND MY EYES OUT!**_ She had used those firecrackers from that Boruto brat!

When he regained himself and stumbled out of her room to chase after her, he found her standing out there like a miniature hunter. Pathetic. "Get away!" she screamed at him, aiming her crossbow at him. Didn't he tell her to NOT play with those damned weapons of hers?!

He yelped when something shot him in the shoulder, just beneath the bone but not anywhere important. A little blood leaked out from his bare skin. One of the darts pierced through flesh and muscle. He didn't see the next shot coming, which was a little red ball hard enough to numb his entire mouth and jaw, and he fell to his knees, rubbing his painfully aching dental structures. He heard the girl's little feet as she left him and ran past him, going down the stairs.

 _ **Run, run, run - but you can't hide forever. I'll find you soon, little one.**_

When he stood, he looked down at himself, deciding that he couldn't chase after her like this. Maybe it was best he returned to his room only for a pair of pants. Decision made, he calmly and casually walked back into the bedroom, pulling a random drawer open and finding red-and-black plaid pajama pants. His hair was still loose and wild, but he let it be as there was something far more important to worry about than his hair.

 **"Sarada...I understand you're scared,"** he called, descending down the steps. If he could be more tender, he could get her to come out from hiding. **"I'm sorry. I know I haven't been that good since your parents died. I tried to be good, the uncle and guardian you deserved...I'm the one who is sick, niece."**

His stomach rolled when his heart dropped from its proper place.

 _ **"I need help."**_

Something was coming forth from the darkness that had taken over his mind and soul...from his _heart._

 _Leave her alone._

 _Fight it..._

 _Let Kakashi and Shisui go..._

He stopped there. _**Kakashi and Shisui...**_

Damn it all, why did he not think about that before?!

 _ **"Bring me the girl..."**_ his inner demon croaked from his recesses, and his feet began to move towards the door beneath the staircase. However...

 _ **The door is unlocked. She is down there.**_

When he opened the accursed thing, he failed to look down and see the thin wire that had been placed before him - and the next thing he knew, he was stumbling down the small flight of stairs and slamming his head against the cold granite floor, his skull erupting with powerful waves of agony, and took him out of awareness in moments.

 _ **Meinu**_ **translates to mean "bitch". Itachi never once called her that, so being possessed by the Babadook has really done it. And now that he is down... ;)**


	7. The End

**Final chapter. Read, enjoy and review. :D**

Chapter Seven

The End

 _"Uncle Shisui! Kakashi!" The small girl threw her arms around them both, starting with Shisui first and then the silver-haired man. She released them then to begin cutting away at the cables that bound them into each other, back to back like a clichéd adventure flick in which the heroes found themselves in distress. She loved those movies, and it was exciting to play the part in real life._

 _But it was also dangerous and scary, since that wild man upstairs roaring and bounding after her, calling her the blame for how his life turned out, was NOT her loving Uncle Itachi. He never once told her he hated her, never turned anything on her. She knew what happened to Mama and Daddy wasn't hers, as Shisui told her himself. That was why she talked to Itachi-_ oji _like that. He wasn't the man who raised her, who spoiled her, who always took her to school and picked her up, did everything to make her happy..._

 _He used to be a cop, used to protect the town, before she was born. Sarada had been told that meant little time with your loved ones for the sake of many other people. She tried to imagine a life like that, and wanted to cry. She didn't want to be without Uncle Itachi...but she also wanted him happy as she was._

 _The Babadook was making him do all of this._

 _She was going to save him._

 _When she told all of this to her other uncles, they shared a look which she guessed was that they weren't sure to believe the words of a child - but with Itachi on the loose like a monster, they didn't have a choice but to help her, after all._

 _The three of them got the wire in front of the door ready, then hid behind the table and tools as they waited. It wasn't long before the door rattled, meaning someone was coming through, and then it opened to show Itachi who did not think to look before he took his first step...and ended up knocked out before either of them could do that job. He hit his head against the floor, which made Sarada panic. Was her uncle HURT?!_

 _Kakashi knelt over him and inspected any damage behind his head. "He's okay, I think. And he still has a pulse."_

 _Shisui sighed in relief, patting Sarada on the back to comfort her. "Then let's tie him up now," he said, turning behind him to get the rope which had always been down here but never used._

~o~

A round ball of light flashed over his eyes.

His head was murdering his senses.

The light flashed a couple times before all was clear. He assessed his surroundings. He was laying on the cold ground, on his back. He took a few breaths through his opened mouth, but he shouldn't have jerked forward. He was being held down... _ **by ropes.**_

 _ **DAMN IT, SARADA!**_ This was all her fault! If he got himself out of these binds, she was going to -

His wrists were down, as were his ankles, and across his chest which connected to either opposite side. Which he found himself looking in the direction of - and lost his control when he glimpsed the crouching trio of his ungrateful niece, the nuisance called Shisui, and Kakashi who had turned on him after a day of fierce release together. That liquid essence shared between them... _ **BETRAYAL!**_

"Fight it, Uncle Itachi!" Sarada cried, standing up and then stumbling a bit, leaning onto the brick wall behind her for support. "We're not leaving you!"

 _ **You're not leaving me...you're such a joke! ALL OF YOU!**_

His harsh barks of laughter made them slink backwards, but Shisui was already standing slowly as if this were another one of their old missions together. "Damn it all, Itachi, pull it together!" he snapped. "What did we promise each other as best friends?! When we were KIDS? I asked you to look at me as a big brother - someone you could look up to! Weren't you just that for Sasuke...and didn't you promise him and Sakura you would look after their little girl for them?!" His eyes hardened on the spot as he raised his voice high enough to shake the walls around them.

"ITACHI, THEY WOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOU NOW IF THEY SAW YOU LIKE THIS - AND SASUKE WOULD SAY THAT THE OLDER BROTHER HE LOVED SO MUCH WAS HIS MOST HATED ENEMY!"

The lighter side of him slowly emerged - _Sasuke would be ashamed of him, hate him_ \- before it was held back again as Sarada came closer. "We promised we would protect each other! Didn't you tell me that the night you held me, when I was born? I don't remember it, but you told me yourself!" She sat back then and cracked him a smile that made him reel back by an inch.

"You don't love me...because the Babadook won't let you. But I LOVE you, _oji-san._ "

 _I love you..._

 _...always will..._

 _ **NO, SHE IS TRICKING YOU! THE LITTLE BANE OF YOUR EXISTENCE!**_

But then the light over his eyes darkened with the outline of a human head...and he saw Sasuke once more. His brother was displeased - or rather, devastated, but his onyx irises were blazing with fire of HATE. He spoke to him softly, audible and deep.

 _"I hate you, Itachi. I trusted you with my child. She loves you the way I did...but look at you now. You've lived in darkness too long,_ nii-san... _"_

"Itachi, if you don't pull it together," Kakashi spoke now, "this will consume you until there is nothing left. What will it do to me, to Shisui...and to _Sarada?_ "

His demon self was still holding him back. The images of memories, of all the good times he had with his niece from the time of her birth and on... _ **there is no love, only PAIN! YOU LET ME IN, AND NOW I TAKE AWAY THAT LITTLE SHACKLE OF YOUR LIFE!**_

"YOU LET IT IN!" Sarada screamed, leaning down and slapping him HARD across his face, snapping it into the other direction. " _YOU HAVE TO GET IT OUT!"_

His insides jerked as though he was a machine, and the gears were becoming rusted...but rusted gears could always be made to move again with replacement and oiling. The channels leading down to his backside - _**I cannot leave you that way!**_ \- convulsed with the rest of his body.

 _GET OUT OF ME, YOU BASTARD! I LET YOU IN; YOU GET OUT!_

He thrashed and pulled on the ropes until his bleeding wrists were freed.

 _ **NOOOOO!**_

Smoke consumed him, screeching and tight, and his eyes rolled about in his head. His legs weren't free yet, but he managed to turn himself all the way around and elevate his upper body with both hands. His stomach and lungs constricted as he heaved violently and let loose the blackest of blood from his system onto the concrete.

~o~

His world was spinning.

His insides were light.

He felt himself falling and landing hard before he lost all sense...until voices and tremors roused him towards the light again. He thought he was dying, and if he was, he was prepared to see Sasuke again, and maybe their parents...

 _"Uncle!"_

 _"ITACHI!"_

They were all around him: Sarada...Shisui...and Kakashi.

They did not abandon him. They were all here, looking out for him - but most of all, it had been _her._ She pulled him out from the deep, dark pit of despair and death. Unconsciously, his arms raised, and he wrapped his arms around her small body, pulling her close, burying his face into the crook of her little neck.

He wracked with grief and regret. There were no words to describe the monster he'd become. He wanted to hold her forever and never let go. _It's over. I'm going to continue. She needs me more than I ever needed anyone. She's the part of Sasuke left behind; he would hate me if he saw me now._

"I'm so...sorry," he croaked, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again and looking up at Kakashi and Shisui. They did not look at him with hate, anger or wariness. In fact, there was nothing at all, but his actions tonight provoked being far from over.

 _If I shoved it out, it must be too weak to take over me again._

He wobbled on his legs, but Shisui and Kakashi helped him up the stairs. He was so tired, but now he feared if he did fall asleep again, he would never wake up. He was afraid, admittedly, for tomorrow coming. These two must think he was insane, so perhaps he deserved the asylum until he was fit for release - or maybe never. Sarada deserved better care in theirs rather than his. He had done enough to her as it was.

This was what love was: the willingness to have the best. Willing to let another care for the person if you couldn't.

However, just as they were reaching the stairs to go up to his room, Sarada was the one to stop in front of them all. Oh, gods, the look in her eye...knowing...

"Sara-chan?" Itachi managed to ask.

Her voice was so soft they barely heard her. "You can't get rid of the Babadook."

Kakashi's eyes went wide. Shisui's jaw slackened. And Itachi could only watch in horror as the "unexpected" happened before their eyes.

Unseen hands grabbed Sarada, then pulled her onto the stairs and proceeded to drag her up, kicking and screaming, into her room, but the door didn't slam shut. _Damn it, it's NOT over!_

~o~

"UNCLE!"

She was in the middle of the room when the three men arrived, but she was picked up and then lifted across the room to lightly hit the wall. Not enough to cause damage, but to try and keep her away from them. The Babadook was playing again. He wanted one last laugh, and Itachi knew it.

 _You're not going to have her, you bastard!_ If the fiend heard his thoughts, then he didn't dare speak to him.

Sarada was tossed onto the bed, unharmed, and Itachi jumped on with her, but Kakashi and Shisui stayed where they were. They were about to join when the bed began to _move_. It shook on its own as though possessed, threatening to flip up and over. Itachi didn't know if this would work, but he yelled out to the darkness of the room ahead of them all: "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

 _It wanted me, but now no longer. What could it really want to do now?_

Suddenly, the bed stopped moving. All was calm, but the monster was still here. He was in the shadows somewhere, watching, waiting...

He slid off the bed, leaving Sarada where she was. She hid beneath the blankets and watched. Shisui rushed over to sit with her, watching as Itachi approached - at the same time a figure was stepping out of the pitch black before them all. "Oh, my God," he gasped when he saw WHO it was.

Itachi was transfixed at the appearance of his brother once again.

 _"Big brother..."_

"Itachi!" Kakashi yelled behind him. "That THING is _not Sasuke!_ "

 _No, it's not,_ he silently agreed, but he could not take his eyes off "Sasuke". The longer he stared, the more he realized that this monster was a manifestation of his grief for losing his beloved baby brother, then his sister-in-law after giving birth to the one thing he had left of them both. The creature fed off the darkness in his heart and pushed him to his breaking point, nearly destroying not only his life but also Sarada's.

"No," he croaked, falling to his knees, "you're _not_ my brother." He gritted his teeth and lowered his head to the ground, heaving and curling his fists so his knuckles were white. The monster hissed and growled in response, finally starting to emerge when he threw his head upwards and raised his voice. His vocal cords rattled with his hoarse shriek. "You are NOTHING _!_ "

The hissing increased as the outline advanced closer. The arms spread on either side gave it the appearance of a black bird in flight. "This is my house, and you are a trespasser!" Itachi shouted. "You are a _cockroach - a PARASITE!_ " The room began to shake, the walls now showing cracks as if an earthquake was rattling the land.

"You tell him, Itachi!" Shisui yelled over the commotion, trying to get off the bed with Sarada only to fall back down again. Kakashi stumbled about and found himself on all fours, scrambling over to hold onto the end of the bed as Itachi continued his rage.

"IF YOU TOUCH ME AND MY NIECE AGAIN, _I'LL KILL YOU!"_

The rattling of the walls stopped. The growls, hisses and shrieks stopped, as well. Sarada whimpered and held onto Shisui, and Kakashi managed to finally stand up on both feet. "Damn!" was all he could get out.

The figure of their nightmares was there as it was, but no longer was it moving. It remained in the air, frozen as if in shock that it had been beaten by _words_ , and the will of its prey proved stronger. Just like that, it collapsed facedown onto the floor, drained of energy. But its groans could still be heard. _The Babadook is weak._

Now Shisui could get off the bed, taking Sarada into his arms as he stared down at the fallen thing. "Is it...dying?" he asked after a moment, and the girl raised her head to look it over.

"You can't get rid of it," she said. "But Uncle Itachi did beat it." Her eyes lit up when they looked up at him. "What are you gonna do now?"

Itachi sneered down at this cause of all their problems. "Kakashi, my gun is in the middle drawer," he said, emitting shocked gasps at the implication of what he was going to do. It might not kill the bastard, but he wanted to feel better, and what more could it do in this state?

"Itachi, if you don't kill that thing, you're only going to make it angry," Shisui pointed out.

"He's right, you know," the silver-haired man agreed, handing the former officer his weapon, the bullets already in place. Taking it into his hand, Itachi clicked the safety off. To hold it made his blood rush with excitement. "I would just leave it as it is..."

"And let it lay here at the foot of my niece's bed for Kami knows how long?" Itachi spat, repulsed by the idea. With that, he raised the pistol, took aim at where the top hat lay...and fired.

The blast echoed off the walls, harshly ringing in his eardrums. Sarada shrieked, her hands flying to her ears. Shisui flinched and squeezed his eyes shut, and Kakashi raised a hand over his eyes.

White flashed before his vision, as the Babadook screamed in unbridled pain.

~o~

The fiend did take the gunshot hard, but as his niece, cousin and friend predicted, the monster didn't die. How could it when it was nothing of the world? Instead, it retreated with its tail between its legs - _down to the basement, slamming the door closed right behind it._

Itachi wasted no time running after it and locking the door so it would never get out again. He was followed by the trio, and they all watched him for a good long while, waiting for him. But he didn't know what to do except one thing: he went straight for his niece whom he wronged, and took her into his arms, picked her up and held her for the longest time.

It wasn't long before Shisui laughed lightly and patted his back. Kakashi just stayed close to them with a twinkle in his eye.

Just when it was over, the book appeared. It had showed up on the doorstep of the house just as his cousin and Kakashi were leaving late in the night, since all was well - but they were going to keep this between themselves as no one would ever believe them. Itachi was slowly feeling the weight being lifted from his soul - because of one certain little one who in turn protected him after he did that job for her.

Back to the damned book. Witnessed with Sarada, Kakashi and Shisui, he burned the damned thing in the fireplace, watching the red cover - and its character - burn into gray ash. The smoke left behind rose into the chute. He decided to just leave the ashes there, since what more could the weakened thing in the basement do?

He hugged Shisui, whispered how sorry he was for everything, but when it came to Kakashi, the silver-haired man leaned over and gave him the best of a kiss he could manage on the Uchiha's cheek. It was his way of saying that despite what happened today, he wanted to see where their newfound relationship would go. He was ready for that.

But right now, since Itachi and Sarada could have a good night's sleep at last with her prescription from Shizune done, there might be a need for a psychiatrist just to be safe. _As long as there is no Orochimaru for her. The creepy snake man around my niece? Not on my watch._

He finally took her out of that piece of shit of a school, intent on hunting for a new one, but she would still continue to see her friends if she wanted to. Though she was going to miss seeing Boruto and Mitsuki as well as Chocho Akimichi during the day, she told him.

Which brought him to today, on a Thursday afternoon, when Anko was back to listen to his decision on a better school for Sarada. She laughed when she read the name which would be the Konoha Genin Academy. "I've read about it, and I've decided she would be happy there," he told the woman.

Anko laughed and sipped her tea he'd made. "With this example you've made, maybe the other families would start thinking about it because of...those two," she stated of the silently spoken old advisors who ought to step down. "They might bring their kids to this better school." Itachi was inclined to agree with her.

She left with the decision made, and another item taken off his plate. He looked over to see Sarada playing with the frisky Kyuui today. The kitty mewled and kicked at her hand with his little feet as she rubbed his belly. Chuckling, Itachi left her alone and went into the kitchen to take out the bowl of soil and worms he'd wrapped in foil, from the refrigerator. He'd plucked them with his niece's help from the backyard garden.

 _Food for the thing in the basement._

Wasn't it ironic that a monster from a children's book had lived in the real world, literally apart from when a mother would tell her child there was nothing of the sort under the bed, in the closet or even the _basement?_

The thing lived here, where it belonged. This manifestation of his dead brother and sister-in-law remained down here, stored like a memory that he would never forget, but he would live with it. He suffered living in the past long enough, and it was time to move on. Every day, he would bring its meal of earthworms to sustain since he discovered regular human food made it queasy.

Why did it not show him Sakura when it allowed him to see his brother? _Because you loved Sasuke the most. He was your major weakness._ He shook the thought off as he descended the stairs and stopped at the bottom to place the bowl of earthworms on the concrete. The cockroach might not die, but it could still feed.

And speaking of which...

The shrieks burst from the darkness, and the shadowy thing with pinprick eyes and sharp teeth in faceless form burst with its arms raised in flight, but he'd been ready for it. This was why he would not yet allow Sarada to see it with her own eyes. Not until she was older.

"IT'S OKAY!" he yelled, raising both hands to calm it down. It paused where it was, getting the picture and then retreating back to where it belonged. Not before taking its meal with it. Itachi breathed a sigh of relief and turned to walk back up the stairs.

"How was it?" Sarada asked when he came up, locking the basement door behind him. He smiled tiredly at her.

"Quiet today."

The Uzumakis were coming over in an hour, and she was already in the cute blue peasant blouse embroidered with orange and red, paired with black jeans. Shisui and Kakashi were also coming. It would be a day where everyone would get together for the first time in a long time. Itachi had a lot to suggest for Naruto even though Hinata was getting him out of the house more often. It would take a lot more to slip your depressed husband out from the four walls you lived in.

 _He might not have fallen as I nearly have, but sooner or later, the chance would be a hundred. I have been down the road to know I can help him get off of it and onto a newer, better one._

Itachi had the feast ready with Sarada's help in time for the doorbell to ring and signal everyone was here.

"Looking good, cousin," Shisui told him, giving him a one-armed hug before letting him go. Boruto loudly embraced him before going to greet Sarada. His mother and toddler sister soon followed, and Naruto himself was coming behind. He appeared lighter and seemed to be getting his old glow back.

"Itachi," he said simply with a nod.

"Naruto," he answered back, then leaned in to speak softly in his ear. "After today, let me help you." The blond frowned for a moment before getting the hint as to who it involved. He nodded harder, without a word. He seemed to be tired of everyone trying to help him, but he needed it.

Kakashi was last, since he'd been waiting to lean up and whisper suggestively in Itachi's ear, making the Uchiha shiver. "After today, you feel like me coming over Friday night...?"

"Not...here," he gritted. There were children here, after all. Kakashi snickered and stepped back.

"Right. We'll talk about it later when they're gone." He followed the others into the house, and this was Sarada's cue to come up to him. She threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. Smiling, he wrapped one arm around her and closed the door with the other.

"It's getting a lot better, Uncle Itachi."

"It is." With that, Itachi Uchiha picked up his niece, his blessed reason to live and the best thing that ever happened to him, and carried her into their home where their friends were waiting for them. Ready to fill these walls with happy memories again. Kyuui the cat meowed and trailed after them.

 **Whew, my first Itachi and Sarada fic, and I am proud of it. :D The end of the movie itself couldn't have been perfect since what you saw reflected the symbolism: the Babadook in the basement represents bad memories stored, learned to live with if not forgotten.**


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